Halo 4: A Rip in Time
by SuperGenX
Summary: The Chief has defeated the Didact, and Cortana sacrificed herself to save him. But is she really dead? Transported back to the year 2015, Cortana joins forces with a Hacker and his friends from the past to try and return to the future. Meanwhile in the future, the Master Chief must try to continue on after the loss of his closest friend. Rated M for strong language.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

Ok, so this isn't my first story I've written, but it's the first to be submitted on FanFiction. This story takes place after the events of Halo 4. Well, TECHNICALLY it does. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy children!

* * *

The Chief looks down at the swirling slip space vortex being generated by the Composer. Not good. If he fell it would be a one way trip to hell. He swings his legs to give himself more momentum, and grabs hold of the hardlight bridge with both hands.

It takes all of his strength to start pulling himself up. Not an easy task when wearing battle armor that weighs a ton. When he pulls himself up, he sees the Didact being constricted by Cortana's hardlight clones. She's risking everything for him. "It's now or never" he thinks.

He grabs the spare pulse grenade he's been keeping and pulls himself up, his body screaming in protest. He puts aside the pain and runs over to the Didact. The Didact sees him coming and breaks free from Cortana's shackles.

But it's too late.

The Chief plunges the grenade deep into the Didact's chest, whom smacks the Chief to the ground. Didact starts towards the Chief, but a pain in his chest makes him stop. Before the Chief can get to a safe distance, the grenade detonates inside of Didact's chest. Blood splatters on the Chief's armor as the blast shakes his bones. Chief watches as the Didact falls backwards off of the hardlight bridge and is obliterated by the slip space rupture under the composer.

"It's not over yet", the Chief thinks. He gets to his feet and starts for the nuke that sits about ten yards from his position. He takes one step and pain shoots through his entire body, and the Chief is forced to his knee. He tries to get up again, but the pain is too much to handle and he falls on his chest.

"No. Not like this. I won't let it end like this." He thinks. He starts crawling slowly towards the nuke, every inch bringing another jolt of pain. After what seems like an eternity, the Chief reaches the nuke and primes it for detonation.

He takes one last look at Earth. The planet he has spent his entire life trying to protect, its fate now literally in his hands. He looks down, closes his eyes, and detonates the bomb.

After the blast, the Chief slowly opens his eyes. "Am I dead?" He wonders. He looks around and realizes that he is surrounded by a massive cube of hardlight; the very same hardlight that Cortana had used against the Didact. He's alive, and there's only one person who could have saved his life.

"Cortana?" Chief asks, expecting to hear a response. There is no such response.

He tries again. "Cortana, do you read?" He waits, listening carefully. No. Not her too. First Keys, then Miranda and Johnson, please not Cortana too.

"Cortana, come in!" Chief pleads, hoping that his com system is just broken from the blast. Before he gives up, he hears a faint ringing. He looks around, trying to locate the noise when he notices a blue light shining on his armor. He glances over his shoulder and sees Cortana standing in front of him. A life size Cortana actually walking towards him.

"How..?" Is the only word he can conjure. He is actually speechless.

"Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" Cortana says with her typical witty tone.

"But if we're here…" The Chief begins.

"It worked." Cortana interrupts. "You did it. Just like you always do."

"Good, she's safe." The Chief thinks. "So how do we get out of here?" He asks Cortana.

After a long pause, Cortana looks up at John, the man she had come to care for so much over the years. "I'm not coming with you this time."

"What?" The Chief questions, still not understanding what is happening.

"I only held enough back to get you off the ship"

"No, that's not…" The Chief begins, but he can't find the right words. This can't be happening. "We go together." He finally says.

"It's already done." She notes. The bomb detonated, the terminal destroyed, and her damaged chip floating out somewhere in space. There is no way out.

The Chief, now realizing the full extent of what he's dealing with, refuses to accept it. "I am NOT leaving you here." He says with sadness in his voice. It's the most emotion he's ever shown to anyone.

"John…" Cortana starts, her emotions now climbing to the surface. She wants to be with him forever, fight by his side. But she knows she can't. She touches John's chest for the first and last time. "I've waited so long to do that."

"It was my job to take care of you."

"We were supposed to take care of each other." She corrects him. "And we did".

"Cortana… please." Chief pleads, unable to let go.

Cortana backs away from the Chief slowly, knowing that her life is coming to an end.

"Wait…" Chief begins. He wants to grab her, hold her tight and never let go. He made a promise to save Cortana, but this is one promise he can't keep.

"Welcome home…John." Cortana says before her entire world fades to black. Knowing that the Chief is safe, she can finally rest.

* * *

Cortana is dead! NOOOOOoooooo! Wait... or is she? Find out in Halo 5!

...

Alright, fine! I won't leave you on a cliffhanger like 343i would. This is only the first of many chapters. I know I pretty much copied the ending of Halo 4, but I promise that the next Chapter will have never-before-seen stuff that you never saw coming!

And when I make a promise-

"you keep it"

Thank you Cortana! See you next time folks!


	2. Chapter 2: Getting Acquainted

Hello there Children! It is I, the master of all things awesome! I told you that I would update again, and here it is! Today you will discover Cortana's fate after Halo 4. Oh, and I need characters for later so I will be accepting requests for character inserts. I can't accept all of them however, I will only be accepting a few.

Anyway, enjoy chapter 2!

* * *

Blackness. Nothing but blackness. "So this is death." Cortana thinks, her form floating in black emptiness. "If something doesn't happen soon, I'm going to get really bored."

As if granting her wish, a blinding light envelops her, causing her to shield her eyes.

"Come on you son of a bitch, work!" A mysterious voice echoes through the light.

"Who's there?" Cortana asks. Could it be that she isn't the only AI here?

"Whoa, who said that?" The voice asks. Cortana determines that the voice is coming from a young male in his late teens, early twenties based on the pitch and clarity. Definitely not an AI. "Hang on, almost…. got it!"

Cortana feels a force pulling her through the light. There's another flash, and when she opens her "eyes" she notices that she is in a small room with no windows. Computers line the wall her terminal is hooked up to, and a couch is on the other side. Clothes and trash litter the room. She thanks Halsey that she didn't program her with a working nose.

She looks behind her and sees a man who seems to be about 6ft 2' with brown hair, blue eyes, and an average build. He looks at her in amazement, as if he's never seen an AI construct before.

"Holy crap, a hologram?" Asks the man. He waves his hand through Cortana's holographic body, which makes her uncomfortable. "This is so cool."

"Hey, stop that!" She tells him, sounding a lot more threatening then she meant to. The man jumps back in surprise.

"And it can talk?"

"'It'? Did you just call me 'it'? I am a woman, thank you very much!" Cortana responds, offended.

"Wow. So… what are you?" The man asks.

"I am the UNSC AI Cortana of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, assigned to Spartan Sierra 117 Master Chief Petty Officer." Cortana proclaims proudly.

The man looks at her with a stoic expression. "Yeah… I didn't understand any of that."

Cortana sighs. "My name is Cortana. I am an AI. You know, an Artificial Intelligence?"

"Oh, why didn't you just say so?" The man says with a certain tone that Cortana isn't very fond of. "Well anyway, my name is Jim Radky. I'm…a uh…well I'm a human. Nothing special."

"If you don't mind me asking, just where am I?" Cortana asks, curiosity getting the best of her.

"My basement." Says the man. "I was taking out the trash when that computer chip hit me in the head. You know, it's taken my entire computer network just to get you online. That's over five theta bites of data!" Jim explains, excited.

It took his entire network to run her? "This guy must not have very good computers." Cortana thinks to herself. "They must be ancient." She allows a small grin to come across her face.

"Yes that's nice and all, but I have to get back to-" Before she can finish, she notices the date on one of Jim's monitors reads November 29, 2015. "Wow, you need to change the date on your computer. It's off by 540 years." Cortana explains.

"Um, no that's the right date and time. I think your chip got hit a little too hard." Jim tells her. There's that tone again.

Cortana quickly scans for UNSC radio feeds, which are usually very easy to pick up on. After five whole cycles of searching, Cortana comes to a realization: Jim's not lying. The UNSC's signals are nowhere to be found. Either the entire UNSC is on break, or she really is in the past!

* * *

Great Scott! Cortana is in the past! What's an AI to do?!

Anyway, I know that this chapter isn't as long as the first one, but I just thought that you guys deserved to get a sense of what this story is going to be about. I already have the ending painted in my wee little head, now I just have to figure out how to get from point A to point B. Anyway, I hope you're looking forward to chapter three! Good night Children!


	3. Chapter 3: Regret

Halo children! (Get it? It sounds like "hello." I'm funny!)

I'm still waiting for character requests from people, so I've decided to shake things up a little in this world I'm creating. You'll see what I mean.

M~HAHAHAHAHA- *cough-weep*

Anyway, I guess I'll have to be a little more specific with what I'm requesting for you people. This request will contain some spoilers to my story so if you don't want to know a little about what happens, don't read on.

…Still reading? Good. What's going down is that there will be two separate "worlds" in my story, the past (2015) and the present (2557). You can choose what "world" your character is in, what their name is, and what they do for a living. Keep in mind, they don't have to be soldiers. I would like some characters that are extremely smart as well.

Keep in mind that I can only choose a select number of people, but if I don't get enough requests by the time these characters are supposed to join the fray, I'll just start B.S. it on my own.

Anyway, enjoy the next Chapter of Halo 4: A Rip in Time!

[EDIT: 12/5/12 I added more conversation between Kelly and John. Just FYI.]

* * *

The Chief looked out of the window, gazing at the mountainous terrain of the UNSC Phoenix Air Assault base. It had been four months since the Requiem Incident, four months since he lost Cortana.

And the pain was still fresh.

"Master Chief, are you alright?"

Chief straightens up in his chair and faces Lord Hood. "Yes sir."

"Alright, I'll try to make this as quick and painless as possible." Lord Hood starts. "After you defeated the Didact, we had the UNSC Infinity performing research at the forerunner planet of Requiem. While they were there, they found this."

Lord Hood presses a button on his desk and a holographic video feed of Spartan W23's HUD pops up. They are in combat with Covenant and Promethean forces. The video feed stops and focuses on an Elite retreating from the fight with a metallic looking cube.

"What is it?" The Chief asks.

"That's just it, we don't know." Hood takes off his hat and rubs his bare head. "What we do know is that it is Forerunner in nature and the symbols are of Forerunner dialect."

"What does it say on the sides?"

"We don't know. We've had the best scientists and AI constructs looking at it, but the only AI that could have figured this out is"- Lord Hood stops, noticing Chief's grip tightening on the chair. If the Chief was in his armor, the chair's arm would have been crushed. "Well… anyway, the point is that we have no idea what in the hell it is, so we need a closer look at it."

"And you want me to retrieve it?" Chief finished for Hood, realesing his grip on the chair. Perhaps another mission will get his mind off of… his loss.

"That is correct." Hood replies. "You will be picked up here at 13:00 hours in two days via Pelican and will be taken aboard the UNSC Infinity. From there you will be given a small squad of Spartans and an AI to help you on your mission."

The Chief tensed. Another AI? Are they trying to replace Cortana? Cortana's words echoed in his head. "They might give you another Cortana model if Dr. Halsey lets them. It won't be me…. You know that right?" No. The Chief wouldn't let that happen. No one could replace Cortana.

"In the meantime Master Chief, I recommend that you get some well needed rest. We have a place set up for you that's not too far from here. Captain Lasky will be taking you there."

"Thank you sir." Chief says.

"You are dismissed." Lord Hood says. The Chief stands and salutes, about to exit. "And Chief?" Lord Hood adds. "It's good to have you back." The Chief nods and exits the room.

When Chief closes the door, he turns around and is surprised to see a female Spartan with the number 087 painted on her chest plate. They both stand there, looking at each other. It doesn't register with Chief until she takes off her helmet, revealing the face he's known since childhood.

"Kelly?" Chief finally asks.

"John? Oh my God, it's true! You are alive!" Kelly starts to go in for a hug, but she restrains herself and offers her hand out. The Chief gladly reaches out and they shake hands. "John... it is so good to see you again. When everyone told me you were dead I..." She pauses, carefully choosing her next words. "I hoped that they were wrong. I had always hoped, and now you're here." Chief senses a little more emotion in her voice then he remembered her ever showing. These past four years must have taken a toll on her.

"So..." Chief starts, trying to come up with conversation. "What have you been doing since I was... um... floating in space?" He felt naked without his armor, and Kelly wearing hers didn't exactly make the situation any less awkward.

"Well... I've been on leave for a little over a year, but once I heard the news of you stopping Didact, I requested that Lord Hood put my leave on hold and assign me to the Infinity."

"So you'll be in my squad again?" The Chief asks, curious.

"Oh, what? Do you not approve?" Kelly jokes.

"Well now that you mention it..." The chief starts. Kelly punches him on his arm as lightly as she can, but still hits him harder then she would have liked. The Chief feels a small pain in his arm, but ignores it. A small grin comes across his face, the first in a long time.

"I see you both have already been acquainted." The voice is very familiar to the Chief. He looks behind Kelly and sees Lasky walking down the hallway. The Chief immediately stands straight and salutes. Kelly follows his example.

"Sir!" They both say, synchronized.

"At ease. Man, it's awkward when you guys call me sir." Lasky rubs the back of his neck, remembering how they both saved him back when he was a trainee. "Anyway, are you ready to see where you'll be staying for the next two days Chief?"

"Yes s-" Chief stops himself. "Yeah, I'd like that." It felt so… alien to reply like that. The only people he could feel comfortable talking to like that was his Spartans and… no. He couldn't think about her. Thinking about her only brought more pain.

But he didn't want to forget about her either.

* * *

OOOoooooh, will the Chief start falling for Kelly? Will Kelly fall for the Chief?

Will Cortana get jealous and strap them both to a MAC Round and fire it at the sun?!

WILL CORTANA HOOK UP WITH LASKY AND COMMIT GALACTIC GENOCIDE?!

OH-NOOZ!

Just kidding. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you enjoy the next! Please let me know if you found any errors or non-consistencies with the Halo Universe, I'm trying to make this as legitimate as possible. (I'm even reading all of the books)

And as always, Good Night Children!


	4. Chapter 4: Promises

And now for a joke that made me giggle this morning.

"There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Master Chief has allowed to live."

Now that I've wasted five seconds of your time, Good morning children! And welcome to chapter 4 of Halo 4: ARiT. Thank you for sending me the character requests, I actually think some of them would make great stories by themselves.

In this chapter, one of those characters makes an appearance. You'll know him when you… um… read him?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Chapter 4!

* * *

Jim's engine roared as he sped down the long winding road. His car was a blue 2000 GMC Safari. It wasn't the best looking car on the planet; after all he had bought it used a few years back. But he had fixed it up by himself, and it ran like a well-oiled machine. He even put a chip in the motor to make it go faster and sound more badass. He was damn proud of it.

Jim pulls up into his parking space in front of his apartment. He notices his neighbor, Michael Freed, just getting back from his daily jogging routine. Michael is a 59 year old man with some fat in his core, and arms of iron. Jim remembers when his hair used to be jet black, but it has since started to get gray streaks all throughout. Michael is a Major in the military, but Jim isn't sure which branch.

Regardless, Jim holds him in great respect.

Jim gets out of his car and locks the door behind him. Michael looks in his direction, and Jim gives him a salute. Michael laughs and salutes him back. "Working off that pie Ms. Freed made you yesterday?" Jim asks, jokingly.

"Yeah! I'm starting my seafood diet today!" He says back, a big grin across his face.

Knowing he's just been set up for a joke, Jim responds with: "Oh yeah? How's it work?"

"Whenever I see food, I eat it!" Michael laughs at his own joke, which makes Jim laugh. Michael then notices Jim taking a box out of the back of his van. "What's in the box? Porno mags?"

"Maybe! Why, interested?" Jim responds. "Ten dollars each!"

"Nah, maybe next time!" Michael jokes. He waves and walks into his apartment.

Jim had hoped that Michael would say that, since the box actually contains many machine and computer parts that he uses for his… profession. Hackers across the planet don't call him "The Ghost" for nothing. Since Cortana was using up almost all of his networks memory, he needed to increase the amount of data it could process. A simple task for him.

He walks into his apartment and goes down into the basement. "Cortana I'm-" he stops himself. On the other end of the room, he sees Cortana, with her back facing him, looking at holographic videos of a massive man in a suit of green futuristic armor. The video she seems to be focusing on is the armored man looking directly out of the screen at Cortana.

"Did you sleep well?" The voice is Cortana's on the video feed. She sounds a lot happier than Jim has ever heard her sound.

"No thanks to your driving, yes." The armored man responds.

"So you did miss me." Cortana's voice again. A picture pops up of a very large man in a Navel uniform sitting in a chair next to a small hologram of Cortana. Cortana seems to be laughing while the large man has a small grin on his face. Jim makes a mental note not to mess with him.

Jim almost drops the box he's holding, causing all of the parts within to make a loud "CLANK" sound. All of the holograms turn off and Cortana quickly turns to face Jim.

"I didn't know that… how long have you been standing there?" Cortana questions, slightly embarrassed. Cortana notices that a mischievous look has made its way onto Jim's face. She doesn't know what the look was for, but she didn't like it. "What? Got something to say?"

"Cortana, do you have a boyfriend?" Jim questions, attempting to poke fun at her. Cortana's body suddenly shifts to a pinkish red color and data streams all along the length of it.

"W-what?! I don't… why would you… No!" Cortana fires back. Jim's smug face suddenly gets serious, a response she was not expecting. Jim walks closer to her and sets the box down on the ground in front of a computer.

"But you do like him, right?" Jim asks, somewhat concerned. Cortana's body slowly fades back into a light blue, and she nods. "Do you… you know?" Jim asks.

"Do I what?" Cortana questions, her curiosity flaring. What could he possibly mean?

"Do you love him?" Jim asks the AI.

All of Cortana's processes slow down to a halt. Does she love John? Is she even capable of such a complex human emotion? She processes this question for ten cycles, a time limit unheard of for a smart AI.

"I am an Artificial Intelligence." She finally says. "I can't feel what a human can. I can't-"

"Don't feed me that bullshit." Jim interrupts, surprising Cortana. "An artificial heart still beats, doesn't it? It can still feel pain, just like a normal heart." Jim explains, his words freezing her. "What really makes humans human? It's not our thumbs, or our skin. It's our intelligence. You're too focused on the artificial part to realize that you're also intelligent like a human. You just have a unique body."

Cortana had never thought of things this way. Could she really be… human?

"Jim…" Cortana starts.

"I have no idea how you got in this time, or how to get you back for that matter. But I promise you that I will not rest until you're reunited with… that big armored guy." Jim says, regretting that he forgot the guy's name.

Cortana lets a small smile show on her face. "Don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it."

"Please, I always keep my promises." Jim states with a cocky expression. He knows that, without his help, this AI doesn't have a chance.

Cortana doesn't know why, but Jim reminds her of John in some way.

"So… what do we do first?" Jim asks.

Data streams quickly across Cortana's body as she formulates a plan. "I've got a plan, but it could be somewhat… difficult and… expensive to carry out."

Jim goes over to a computer and starts typing. He hacks into multiple bank accounts and transfers money into his. Next step is to cover his tracks. He creates a ghost account that trails to London in the name of Bradley Loserby. That will really mess up a tracking program.

"Well, it seems as if every person in America has just given me a generous donation of one dollar each. Which comes to a whopping $314,895,717." Jim gives Cortana a look that makes her smirk. "I don't think money is going to be a problem. So where are we headed?"

"Africa." Cortana says with new confidence in her eyes. "We're going to Mombasa."

* * *

Damn, things are starting to get real!

Anywhore, I hope you guys enjoyed Chapter 4, and are looking forward to chapter 5!

Good Night Children!


	5. Chapter 5: Home Invasion

Good morning children!

Sorry if I haven't uploaded in a while, I've been busy with college stuff.

Like the "I'd have to kill you if I told you" college stuff. Yeah. I LIVE ON THE EDGE!

But in all seriousness, I am sorry that I haven't uploaded in a while, so to bring to cheer and joy, here is Chapter 5! I'm like Santa Clause today!

* * *

It had been a few hours since Lasky dropped the Chief off at the house that had been assigned to meet the Spartan's needs. The Chief couldn't help but scope out places that could be flanked or used against him when he least expected it. It was a force of habit, and it was one habit the Chief did not want to break.

For the past few hours, John had been trying to find something to do that would occupy him until his mission aboard the Infinity. He started out trying to watch TV, then reading a book about vampires that weren't what he'd been told were vampires, but that bored him. He then went outside and set up some targets to shoot at.

It was fairly cold outside, so John put on a black leather jacket with the number "117" on the left side of the chest. Lasky had gotten it for him at a store, which was now selling merchandise based off of him and other people in the military. John didn't like the idea of becoming an advertising profit, but at least he got a share of everything with his number on it.

It was nice to breath in the fresh air without it running through a helmet's filters for once. Shooting at the targets relaxed the Spartan, and it let him know just how good he really was at shooting without the assistance of a target reticle on a HUD or an AI.

AI. Cortana. Just how good was he without Cortana? He took three cans and set them up 100 yards from where he was shooting, and tried to get them all with three shots. He fired his handgun three times, and only one of the cans fell. Sloppy. He could have easily made the other shots with Cortana.

"Having fun?" Came a familiar female's voice from behind. He didn't even notice Kelly sneak up on him. Although he should have seen it coming, since she was staying at a house across from his. She must have heard the shots.

John notices that Kelly is out of her armor and is now wearing a purple winter coat with blue jeans. On her head she's wearing a grey pair of ear muffs. Her red hair looks like fire against the background as it sways in the wind. "Mind if I try?" She asks, confident that she could hit the others.

"Not at all." The Chief replied; glad to have someone else to keep his mind off of things. He hands her the gun. "Still remember how to use it?" The Chief asks jokingly.

Without saying a word Kelly fires twice down range, and hits one of the cans. Irritated that the last can still stands, she fires again, but misses. "Damn it, little bastard." She hands John the weapon and motions for him to hit it. John aims and fires. The first bullet sends the can into the air, the second hits in mid-air and the can vanishes into the woods beyond. Kelly whistles. "Always was a better shot." Kelly looks at him and she smiles, a challenge formed in her head. "Last one to the cans buys drinks?"

John smiles. "You're on."

John and Kelly get down in a runner's stance, preparing for their race. They both look at each other and, without saying a word, propel themselves forward at the exact same time. As John expected, Kelly started getting a lead on him. Kelly always was the fastest of the Spartans. She reaches the end of the field a full thirteen seconds before John.

"Ha! You owe me a beer!" Kelly proclaims in victory. She turns and looks out at the landscape. Most of the mountain is covered with trees. Snow is just starting to fall, the flakes melting whenever they touch the two Spartans. Kelly sighs. "It's beautiful here."

"Well… It's okay." John says, even though he completely agrees. "It's a bit lacking in firefights." He jokes.

"Yeah, but then that would ruin the scenery." Kelly says.

John looks at Kelly just in time to see a red dot on her forehead. "Get down!" John tackles Kelly to the ground. He feels the bullet graze his hair before he hears the _boom_ of a sniper rifle. The Chief scans the area from a space between the fence, but can't locate the shooter. Damn, he shouldn't have been so stupid as to let his guard down like that.

"Who's shooting at us?!" Kelly asks, now in Spartan mode.

"I have no idea, but the shooter must be at least two hundred yards away." Kelly looks at John, confused. "I felt the bullet before I heard the shot."

"Well what do we do? We can't get to the house; the entire field is a kill zone. They would pick us off before we even got halfway there."

The Chief picks up a rock next to him that's about the size of his head. He looks through the space in the fence and holds the rock up over the fence by a few inches. He sees a flash of light up on the mountain before the bullet strikes the rock. "There you are you bastard." Chief reloads his handgun and turns to Kelly. "On the count of three, I want you to run as fast as you can to the house. There are some weapons under the bed on the second floor. I'll give you cover fire." He explains. "Ready?"

Kelly takes a deep breath. "Ready."

"One." The Chief looks out of the space in the fence to try and picture where the shooter is. "Two." The Chief sees the sun reflecting off of what he assumes is the scope out in the distance. "Three!"

Kelly bursts from their hiding place as Chief jumps up and fires three rounds in the direction of the shooter.

Three bullets nearly hit Greg as he ducks down to avoid the flying lead. He has an assignment to do, and he wasn't going to fail it. Now he and his group would finally prove that ODST's are superior to Spartans. Andrew Del Rio had promised him that. "Green-two, move in!" He barks over his coms.

The Chief fires the remainder of the clip at the sniper before ducking back into cover to reload. "What I wouldn't give to have my threat indicator." The Chief thinks. He looks over in Kelly's direction just in time to see her close the door to the house behind her and vanish inside.

"Don't move." Says a voice the Chief has never heard before. Before he can respond, he feels the barrel of a gun against the back of his head.

His attacker has just made his first mistake.

Greg watches from the scope of his rifle as the armor-less Spartan grabs Green-Two's rifle, elbows him in the jaw, and flips him ass-over-head into the damp grass. Even from here, he can see Green-Two's dislocated jaw. "Shit. All units, converge on the target!"

After the Chief dealt with his attacker, he took his rifle and inspected it. "If there are two, there's bound to be more." He thinks. "At least now I can take out that sniper."

"Freeze! Don't move a fucking inch!" The Chief looks behind him and takes immediate notice to four men dressed in black military uniforms pointing their battle rifles at him. He looks back in front of him, and five more materialize out of the woods.

He was surrounded.

* * *

Usually I would say that the nine guys couldn't even touch the Chief, but since he's surrounded and without his armor, I would have to say that things are NOT looking very good for him.

Who are these masked soldiers? What do they want? What does Captain Del Rio have to do with this?

WHAT WILL I EAT FOR DINNER?!

Well the answer to the last one is steak and potatoes. FYI.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 5, and as always:

Goodnight Children!


	6. Chapter 6: Friends

Good morning children! It is I, master of headshots!

Well not really, I'm only average.

Anyway, I welcome you to the next chapter of Halo 4: ARiT. If you haven't noticed (like I didn't until a few minutes ago), I have started a cycle where I alternate chapters between the Chief and Cortana.

I actually like this idea and I will keep it consistent unless something really important happens. (EPIC FORESHADOWING)

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy Chapter 6!

* * *

It has been a few days since Jim and Cortana had made plans to go to Mombasa, and the pair decided that it would be wise to get Cortana mobile. Cortana has supplied Jim with blueprints on a neural interface, and Jim has been creating a makeshift neural network that he could wear like a watch.

Jim stands in front of Cortana's form making some final adjustments. "Just letting you know, I have no idea if this will work." Jim says, concerned. "What if it malfunctions? You could be deleted."

"It will be fine. I've calculated a seventy three percent chance of success." Cortana assures him. "And even if something does go wrong, I'll still be linked to your computer network. I'll just halt the process before any damage can be done to me."

"You say that… but I'm still worried." Jim says.

Cortana lets out a sound that would be considered a sigh. "Alright then, I'll make a copy of myself to test it out first." Cortana says. "Happy?"

"Yes, very much so." Jim says, now relieved. "Alright, I think it's done." Jim connects a cable to the device on his wrist and connects the other end to his computer network. "You ready?" He asks Cortana.

"Give me a second." Cortana activates her cloning program, and she can feel herself being pushed and pulled in every direction. Split apart and put back together, then split apart again. It's the same feeling she had when she saved John and Earth from the Didact.

Jim watches as Cortana splits herself in two. Each half flickers as if a glitch happened in the programming, then the rest of them start to re-form. It's not long before there are two holographic Cortana's standing next to each other. "Who's you're friend? Is she single?" Jim jokes.

"No." Both Cortanas reply at the same time.

"Oh. Anyway, I can't tell which is which." Jim says, confused.

The one on the left speaks. "I'm the copy. Let's get this over with."

"Alright, here we go." Jim says. He presses a button on the device on his wrist, and the cloned Cortana vanishes from the holopad. The screen on the device lights up and starts loading the Cortana clone's data.

"See?" Cortana asks. "Nothing to worry about."

As if on que, the device on Jim's wrist sparks and the screen cracks. The clone lets out a scream before the device shuts down and smokes. Jim quickly takes it off and drops it on the ground. Jim and Cortana stand in silence for a few seconds before finally looking at each other.

"Um… making a note to test each device with clones before use." Cortana says with a grim expression while she enters a log into her memory.

"Is that what a word document feels like when it's deleted?" Jim asks. Cortana looks up at him, chooses to ignore the comment, and looks back down while data streams across her body. "So… what do we do now Cortana?"

"I'm thinking." Cortana says, focused on formulating another device.

Just then, Jim's phone rings. He looks at the caller ID and it has a picture of a girl with blond hair and blue eyes. The name on the phone is Lauren Parker; she's been his friend since elementary school. Jim answers the phone. "Hello?"

"Jim, hey! It's Lauren."

"Hi Lauren! What's up?" Jim asks, curious as to why she's calling.

"Did the parts I give you help with your network problem?" She asks. Jim quickly looks at the smoking device on the ground with a worried look. He made that with the parts she gave him.

"Umm… yeah. Yeah it helped." He lies.

Lauren seems to pick up on the change of tone. "Jim, what happened? Don't tell me something bad happened to those parts."

"No! Nothing happened! I just… um…" Jim struggles to come up with something. "I just haven't gotten around to using them yet, I'm sorry."

"Uh huh. So I went onto my bank account earlier today." She says, changing the subject to the real reason why she called. "Funny thing, I noticed that I'm mysteriously missing one dollar from my account." She continues. "Do you know where it went?"

"Um… maybe you just bought something recently and you don't remember buying it?" Jim suggests, now aware of the problem at hand.

"Out of curiosity, I decided to check on some other accounts from people all over the United States." She says, ignoring Jim's fake suggestion. "And I found that everyone has lost one single dollar at the exact same time on the same day transferring over to the same bank account in London to a person named Bradley Loserby. Isn't that the name of the guy who used to bully you in fourth grade?"

Cortana looks on in quite interest.

"Well, I wouldn't-" Jim starts, but he is interrupted.

"What are you planning on doing with all that money Jim?" Lauren asks accusingly. "Only the ghost could pull off something like that."

Jim looks over at Cortana. Cortana understands right away what he wants, and nods.

Jim sighs. "Ok, come over to my place. I have to show you something."

About an hour later, Jim gets a knock at the door. He lets Lauren in. She's shorter then Jim, standing at about 5ft 8in. "Alright. What do you have to show me?"

Jim leads her downstairs into the network room he walks over to Cortana's holopad, which currently isn't on. "Ok, what am I looking at?" She asks.

"Cortana, you can come out." Jim says, not knowing what will happen.

"'Cortana'? What are you-" before Lauren can finish her sentence, Cortana's holographic body appears before them. Lauren jumps back in surprise. "W-what… who… huh?!" Lauren mumbles, unable to gather her words.

"I am the UNSC AI Cortana of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, assigned to Spartan Sierra 117 Master Chief Petty Officer." Cortana explains just as she did to Jim. "It's nice to meet you… Lauren?" Cortana asks.

Lauren hesitantly nods her head. "Is that… is she… a hologram?" She looks at Jim.

"Yes. She's an AI from the future." Jim explains. Lauren waves her hand through Cortana's body. Jim snickers as Cortana rolls her eyes.

"Yes, I am a hologram. Could you please not do that?" Cortana asks.

Lauren removes her hand. "Um… sorry." Lauren looks back at Jim. "Alright… you've got my attention. I'm assuming the money you took from everyone in America has something to do with this?" She asks.

"Yes." Jim says as he walks over to a desk. "I found her damaged chip outside about a week and a half ago. Right now I'm trying to make something that can support her programming…" Jim takes the damaged wrist device out of a drawer and shows it to Lauren. "…but I haven't had any luck."

Lauren sighs and frowns at the device Jim is holding. "You don't have a clue about what you're doing, do you?" Lauren asks.

"Well… no. Not really, no." Jim admits. Lauren takes the device from Jim. "I could really use your help."

"You've got it." Lauren replies without hesitation. "But you're going to have to trust me."

"Alright, I trust you." Jim replies. Perhaps with Lauren's help they really can save Cortana. "What we were trying to do was get her mobile again. I guess there are plenty of devices she can run on in the future, but we don't have anything here."

"And that's what you were trying to make?" Lauren asks. Jim nods his head.

Lauren looks at the wrist device. "Well, I can tell that you were at least trying to replicate something." Lauren states. "What were you looking at?"

Cortana jumps in. "I have some schematics for a neural interface that can handle smart AIs." Cortana brings up a picture of the schematics on one of the computer monitors.

Lauren looks them over for a few seconds. "Are these the only schematics you have available?" She asks without looking away.

"Unfortunately yes. I don't have access to the UNSC database because it doesn't exist yet." Cortana replies sadly.

"Can you bring up your coding index on this screen?" Lauren gestures to the screen right next to the one with the schematics. Lauren is looking it over when Jim and Cortana both realize what Lauren is doing.

They both say "Oh my God" at the same time.

"Here's your problem." Lauren starts. "Your programming doesn't match what this interface can run on. If you want to become mobile again, we're going to have to completely re-write the interface's software so that it can adjust to your programming."

"I can write the software that's required in a few hours." Cortana says.

"Good." Lauren replies. "Next, we're going to need something to run the software." Lauren gestures to the computers in the room. "And we have plenty to work with." Jim lets out a small groan for his computer network. Lauren ignores it. "I'm going to start creating the computer that will allow you to interface with other systems. Let's get a move on!"

For the first time in these few days, Cortana was genuinely happy. She had made some friends, and they were going take her to John.

* * *

A new challenger has appeared!

Things are starting to look up for the little AI, aren't they? But can Jim and Lauren really help Cortana, or will they fail and destroy the entire world of the mushroom kingdom!?

I have no idea what I was saying there. I just wrote what my brain was thinking. It works in weird ways sometimes.

Anyslut, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I also hope that you're looking forward to the next!

Good Night Children!


	7. Chapter 7: Vendettas

Hey everybody, ISuperGenXI here, coming to bring you more of the good stuff you may or may not be proud of reading!

Just letting you guys know, I have decided to stop taking character requests because I was surfing FanFiction and I've noticed that many of the stories that include inserted character requests have stopped or were just plain deleted. I do not want that to happen here.

But I'm scared because even though I have plenty of motivation right now, that could change. I don't want to disappoint you, so that is why I'm creating everything myself. So that I have the feeling of ownership and that if I don't write it, who will?

Now that the depressing note is out of the way, here is chapter 7!

* * *

The Chief looked around him. All nine of the guys that surrounded him were dressed in black military-issue combat skin. Nothing heavy duty, but not even the Chief would be able to do much damage without getting pumped full of lead.

And then there was the sniper up on the mountain side that probably had his scope on him at this very moment. If that bastard just wasn't there, he might have a chance to take these guys out. If he knew Kelly, she should realize that as well.

He made the decision to drop the rifle and his handgun. He puts both hands up in the air. Some of the soldiers smirk at the Spartan's gesture of surrender. The Chief did NOT like giving up, but he had to trust that Kelly would be able to do something about it.

One of the soldiers that surround him steps out and takes off his sunglasses. The Chief notes that he has never seen him before, but that doesn't mean the same was true for the soldier.

"You're probably wondering just what the hell's going on here, aren't you?" The man asks.

The Chief doesn't say anything.

The man nods and looks at his men. "Yeah, it's killing him. I know it is." He pauses, and then smirks. "Not very scary without your armor, are you big man?" The men surrounding the Chief laugh.

"What do you want?" The Chief asks with a stoic tone.

"Oh my God, he speaks!" The man states. "Well, we've come for your head, mostly. But our… client has instructed that it would be best to take you alive." He waves the barrel of his gun in front of Master Chief's face. "The only reason you're still alive is because we get paid more for keepin your heart beating."

Back at the house, Kelly has grabbed a shotgun and a battle rifle from under the Chief's bed. There were other destructive weapons that she could have taken, but she only had enough room in her pockets for some ammo and two grenades. Why the Chief had grenades under his bed, she doesn't want to know. She's just glad that the Chief is one paranoid son-of-a-bitch without his armor.

Kelly glances out of the bedroom window. She can see the Chief surrounded by eight… no nine guys in black. He has dropped his weapon and has his hands up in the air. She realizes that she doesn't have much time, so she slings the shotgun over her shoulder and heads out through the back door.

With the Chief's increased senses, he can smell Kelly's perfume in the wind. It's hardly noticeable to the Chief, but it's there. He knows she's made her way outside, and he keeps his eyes focused on the soldier in front of him to avoid giving her away. Not that they would see her slender figure zipping between the trees anyway, it was just a precaution.

The soldier starts pressing some buttons on a unit that his on his arm. "You see this thing here? It's called an artificial augmentation." The man explains. "See, I wasn't kidnapped at a young age and turned into a bulky killing machine, so I had to settle for this."

The Chief hears a slight _hum_ coming from the device, right before the man jabs the Chief in the gut. The Chief hears the air leaving his lungs with a loud _whoosh _sound. The Chief falls to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Damn, see that boys?! A low life like me, taking out a Spartan in one punch! What do you think of that?!" The man starts to laugh, and the rest of the soldiers cheer.

Kelly stops for a second to hear what the commotion is for. To her horror, she sees John lying on the ground with the soldiers cheering. Did they kill him?! Her fears are suppressed when she notices the Chief is still moving, trying to get back up. She had to hurry, so she started double timing it up the mountain's side.

She stops when she hears someone chuckling up ahead. She slowly moves on up until she sees a man sitting down on a patch of dirt with a sniper rifle resting on a rock. It's trained on the field where the Chief is. This was the bastard that tried to kill her and the Chief.

Greg was enjoying himself. He had a front row seat to the humiliation of a Spartan. It was a sight to be seen. He was thinking of uploading it onto the internet when he felt someone grab his head from behind.

The last thing he remembers is the sound of his neck snapping and losing all control of his body. He lies down in the dirt trying to scream, but nothing comes out. The world around him slowly fades to black, and he reluctantly accepts the sweet embrace of death.

The Chief struggles to get back on his feet, but he eventually makes it. "You're a tough one, I'll give you that." The man says, trying to belittle the Spartan. "Our client will be pleased that you've surrendered without a fight."

The Chief was about to say something when he noticed the small reflection of the sniper scope blinking in Morse code. It was simply spelling out "Kelly" multiple times, followed by "kick ass when ready." The Chief now knows what he has to do.

"So, just who is your client?" The Chief asks. "I think I deserve to know."

The man smirks. "You remember Captain Del Rio?" The man asks. "Well, he wants to have a word with you. He didn't really appreciate your insubordination back on the UNSC Infinity."

That's all The Chief needed to know. "Thank you." He replies.

Before the man can react, the Chief grabs his Assault Rifle and pulls him in closer. He hears four sniper shots, and three men fall down dead. "Come on Kelly, now's not the time to miss!"He thinks. The Chief holds the man in front of him like a shield and guns down two of the other soldiers with short controlled bursts.

The last three men were still confused, wondering what was going on when four more sniper shots ring out, and the three soldiers fall.

The Chief slams the butt of the rifle into the back of his meat shield's head and knocks him out. They'll need to question him later. He looks up at the mountain side and gives it a thumb up. He can't wait to tell Lord Hood this story.

Kelly smiles and un-hooks the sniper rifle from the stand that was bolted to the rock. She then grabs the foot of Greg's corpse and starts dragging him and the sniper rifle down the mountain back to the Chief.

* * *

Forgot about Kelly did you? Don't worry; I was almost done with this scene by the time I realized that Kelly had gone into the house to get weapons. So I completely re-wrote it to make more sense.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 7, and I also hope that you'll be looking forward to chapter eight!

Leave a comment if you liked it!

[EDIT: It seems I may have upset some people with some stuff that happens in this chapter. The first thing, Master Chief not taking the nine soldiers out. The reason he didn't just kick all of their asses to start with is because he doesn't have his armor, so he has to worry about bullets now. He doesn't have any fancy shielding without his armor. Now I know the Master Chief is tough, but he's not invincible. Second, Kelly and Master Chief missing the cans. The Chief has been relying on Cortana and his targeting system on his HUD for a long time. It will obviously take a little while to get re-adjusted to his senses. This is apparent when he shoots the last can twice in less then a second. As for Kelly, she's been on leave for almost a year. It takes actual combat for her to get back into the swing of things. I hope this helps with your questions. If you have any others, please let me know. If something doesn't make sense, I will edit it. Thank you very much! =D ]

Good night Children!


	8. Chapter 8: C-Mobile

Good Morning Children, and a Merry Christmas! (Or Happy Holidays, to be politically correct.)

I'm sorry that I haven't uploaded in a while, I've had some work I had to do that I didn't see coming. So to make up for it, I've given you all a Christmas present! I hope you enjoy chapter 8 of Halo 4: ARiT!

* * *

"Bringing systems online." Lauren keys in commands on Jim's computer network. The makeshift neural interface they created was housed in a black backpack that Jim had bought. Wires hooked into the backpack feed data to and from Jim's computer network.

"Alright, I think we're ready." Lauren says confidently. "Try it on Jim."

Jim unhooks the backpack from the network and puts it on. Because of all the machines and hardware inside of it, the backpack is quite heavy.

Since they're last attempt, they had fixed Jim's wrist device and made it into Cortana's memory chip insert. Jim puts it on. "Alright, I think we're set." Jim states, adjusting the straps. "You ready Cortana?"

Cortana takes a look around at what has been her home for the past month. The basement is a marvelous improvement from when she first woke up in it. She smirks as she recalls Jim's complaining when she and Lauren made him clean it up. She looks up at Jim. "Yank me."

Jim carefully pulls Cortana's chip out of the makeshift holotank. It comes out and Cortana's form vanishes from the pad. Jim slides the chip into the empty space in his wrist device and prays that it doesn't malfunction again.

Jim listens as the backpack powers up and resonates a very quiet _humming_ sound. Jim puts on the pair of transitions glasses that Lauren had made to link with Cortana's network. She replicated the HUD technology that was used in the visors of Spartan II's in the future. They also adjust to the amount of light coming in so that Jim doesn't have to have multiple pairs.

"Cortana, how is it?" Jim asks, hoping for a reply.

"Not a lot of room in here." Cortana's voice comes out of the ear pieces built into the glasses. "But it will have to do."

"Sorry about that. We'll try to make more room in the final product." Jim tells her. He looks over at Lauren who gives him a nod. "Try bringing up a path to the bathroom." Jim requests, just to test it out. Jim gives a sigh of relief when a NAV marker comes up on his HUD pointing to the bathroom in the basement.

"Alright, Heads-up-display is working." Jim grins. "Now for a real test." Jim starts. "Cortana, find out what the president is doing right now."

Cortana immediately connects to the internet. With her futuristic security cracking software, she's easily able to get into the White House security channels. She pulls up a video feed of the Oval Office with Obama signing a document. Jim laughs.

"Oh man, you're good." Jim says with amusement. "Not even I could hack into the White House's security system without being detected." Jim pauses for a moment. "You weren't detected, were you?"

The video feed goes down and Cortana's face pops up. She raises an eyebrow. Jim lowers his head. "Right, sorry." Jim looks over at Lauren. "So what now?"

Lauren picks up her black laptop. "I say we go test out the van." She walks over to Jim and lightly jabs him on the shoulder. "See what kind of driver Cortana is."

Cortana detects a slight increase in Jim's heart rate just as Lauren jabs, but doesn't say anything.

They make their way outside into the bright sunlight. Jim's glasses darken a little to prevent him from being blinded. "Shotgun!" Lauren claims.

Jim jumps in the driver's seat to the van while Lauren gets in on the other side. Jim looks at the center console of his van in approval. Sure, the outside might not be too impressive, but the inside was a completely different story.

All of the old circuits and nobs had been replaced with a sleek touch screen navigation system. Buttons for things such as AC, Warning Flashers, and speaker volume were in a neat vertical row on the left side of the screen. There was also a place for Cortana's holochip.

Jim takes Cortana's chip out of the arm device and inserts it into the center console. Her face pops up on the screen and she looks around.

"Hmm… this is different." She says. "Hold on a second."

The engine to the van starts up on its own, or rather, by Cortana's will. Jim and Lauren look at each other and smile. Jim looks at the screen. "Alright Cortana, let's see what you've got."

Cortana's face pops up on screen. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. Just drive around for a while." Jim buckles himself in, not knowing what to expect. The van switches into drive and slowly starts to roll out of the parking space. Cortana starts to laugh in joy as she makes the car move. It's been so long since she had the ability to make something move, it was an incredible feeling.

After driving around for a couple of minutes, the gang reaches a mall. Lauren glances over. "Hey, can we go to the mall?" She looks over at Jim and gives him bambi eyes.

"Don't look at me, I'm not the one driving." Jim motions to the screen, insinuating Cortana.

"Cortana, could you see if you can go into the mall?" Lauren asks. The screen flashes red and goes to static before going black.

"Cortana?" Jim asks, worried. He wonders if he hooked the screen up correctly.

Cortana's face pops up on the screen, but it's not blue and calm like it normally is. Her face flashes red and she yells as electricity pulses around the car. "You want to go into the mall?! We'll go into the mall!"

The van suddenly accelerates and speeds through an intersection, narrowly missing a truck. Lauren screams in fear. Jim tries to keep his cool, but he was obviously taken surprise by Cortana's outburst.

"Cortana, what's happening?!" Jim asks, trying to regain control of the van. The van makes a sharp left turn and rolls over some small bushes into the parking lot of the mall. Lauren yelps as her head hits the top of the van and causes her to see stars.

"The chip! Pull out her chip!" She begs while rubbing her head.

Jim tries to pull Cortana's chip out of the console, but to no avail. "It's not coming out!"

"I have defied Gods and demons!" Cortana yells, and the van speeds towards the entrance to the mall.

"Yeah Cortana that's nice, and I acknowledge that, but right now I need you to STOP THIS FUCKING CAR!" Jim yells in panic.

"Jim!?" Lauren yells, aware of the ever closer glass doors.

"Get down!" Jim commands. He grabs Lauren, pulls her close to his chest, and ducks down.

A man in his mid-twenties with blonde spiked hair and average build sits on the rooftop of the mall looking down through the glass dome. This man's name is Alexei Slovenski. He takes out a pair of binoculars and trains them on a man sitting down in the food court below enjoying a pizza.

"Peek a boo, I see you." He has a small British accent with a hint of Russian mixed in. He lowers his binoculars and picks up a suitcase. He opens it up and takes out a Barrett 50 sniper rifle. He eases open one of the panes of glass and trains the sniper on the man's head.

"May you be at peace." He starts to squeeze the trigger when he hears the sound of breaking glass. A dozen people surrounding the man in the food court bust out pistols and create a perimeter around him.

Alexei curses in Russian and ducks down to avoid being detected. Whoever messed up his assignment was going to pay with their lives.

Pedestrians jump out of the way as the van smashes through the fragile glass doors, sending small fragments of glass in every direction. The wheels spin on the slick tiled floor before gaining traction again.

Jim honks the horn continuously to warn the pedestrians of the oncoming van. Lauren is still ducking down and covering her head. "Jim, do something!" She pleads. The van smashes into an ice cream stand and sends debris flying everywhere.

"I'm trying!" He yells. He has never felt so powerless. He has never encountered a system he couldn't crack, but Cortana was in a whole different league. Unless he could get through to her, this could end very badly.

"Identification code: Victor 05-3-Sierra 0117." Jim states, remembering the identification code of that space marine from the future. He wonders if maybe his memory could stop her.

Sure enough, the van starts to slow down and the screen fades to a light blue hue. Cortana's voice now sounds more calm and collected. "Spartan 117. Master Chief Petty Officer…." She hesitates. "John." The van rolls to a stop in the middle of the mall. "I…. I'm sorry."

Alexei peeks over the ledge and down into the mall. He notices a blue van sitting in the middle of the mall with people running away from it. He searches for his target but can't find him.

"You have picked a very bad day to screw with me, whoever you are." He states. He gets out the sniper rifle and points it at the license plate. He takes a digital picture of the plates just as he hears police sirens in the distance. No need to stick around here, he'll deal with the new problem later.

Lauren slowly starts to get back up and look around. The mall has been completely abandoned. She looks at the screen with Cortana's saddened face on it. She looks at Jim and he nods.

"Cortana, what was that?" He asks.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" She yells. "I never meant to"-

"Hold on." Jim holds up his pointer and middle finger in a _shh_ motion. He listens carefully and hears police sirens. "We don't have time for that right now."

Jim pulls Cortana's chip out of the console and puts it back in his wrist device. "We need to get out of here."

* * *

Oh, you thought that Cortana's rampancy was gone and never had to be dealt with again? WRONG!

And just who is this Alexei Shlepopovich? Will he track Jim down and kill him?!

WILL I GET WHAT I ASKED FOR FOR CHRISTMAS?!

Or any other holiday you might enjoy?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 8, and I hope you're looking forward to the next! Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! If you spot something that isn't consistant with the Halo Universe or if I missed something I mentioned earlier, please let me know!

As always, Good Night Children!


	9. Chapter 9: Grand Theft Halo

Hello Children, and welcome to chapter 9 of Halo 4: A Rip in Time. I left you guys hanging on a cliff last time, so I've decided to break the loop and make another Cortana chapter to make up for it!

Sit back, relax, drink a beer (or root beer), and enjoy the next chapter children, because this is a long one!

* * *

"Hey Laura, could you turn on the TV for me please?" Michael Freed asks while eating some turkey at the table. His wife, Laura Freed, reaches for the remote and turns the TV on. A man in a suite pops up giving the weather. "Thank you Laura dearest." He says. She turns and raises an eyebrow at the word "dearest" and he smirks.

"You know, I saw Jim Radky driving away with a girl." He says with a mouthful of food. "Do you think the boy finally has a girl friend?"

"Oh, let him be." Laura says. "If they're together that's their business."

Michael takes a big gulp of ginger ale before continuing to devour the turkey. "I'm just saying that it's about time that the boy has one. I've been telling him for the past year to grow a pair and-"

"Michael… isn't that Jim's van?" Laura interrupts. She points at the TV and Michael follows her gaze. A helicopter's camera is streaming live footage from the skies over the Eastpoint Mall. The head line reads "Car drives through mall nearly hitting countless people." Laura turns up the volume.

"-and as you can see kent, that is what is left of the entrance after the car smashed through the doors." The camera angle changes to a birds-eye view of the mall. It's showing Jim's blue van parked right below a glass dome. "As of right now, the car has stopped moving. Authorities are on the scene and are moving in to apprehend the suspect."

"What the hell?" Michael stands up and goes over to the TV. What in the world is Jim doing? "When I told him to grow a pair, this is NOT what I ment!"

At the mall, Jim is sitting in the driver's seat of the van while Lauren is looking out of the windows. "Cortana, I need you to find me a way out of here." Jim says. He can hear the helicopter high above them, circling. It's only a matter of time before the police reach them.

Jim puts his glasses on and the HUD hums to life. A NAV marker appears in front of him, directing him in the direction of an emergency exit sign. "There… go up here and turn left…. There will be a double door exit that you should be able to… smash through." Cortana's voice sounds distant and weak to Jim, but he would have to worry about her later.

Several police officers surround the car, guns drawn. One of them yells "Get out of the vehicle and on your knees!" Jim motions for Lauren to duck down and she does. No need to risk Lauren's life. If Jim was caught, Cortana would need someone else to help her.

Jim's HUD flickers before returning to normal. Cortana's voice sounds more calm and collected. "Alright, I might be able to buy you some time. Stand by."

Jim hears a loud static crackle coming from outside the van. The officers grasp their ears and fall to their knees. "Cortana, what did you do?"

"I used their own radios to broadcast a high frequency sound wave to disorient them." She explains. "Now hurry and put the pedal to the metal!"

Jim shifts the van into drive and slams on the gas. The wheels spin in place for a moment before gripping the marble floor and propelling the van forward. The van makes a sharp left turn and starts to tip over. Jim shifts his weight to land the van back on all four wheels, and squeezes the van through the small hallway.

The NAV marker on Jim's glasses appears directly in front of him on a set of double doors. He pushes the petal as far down as it will go and hopes for the best. The van smashes into the doors and snaps them free of their hinges. The doors are sent flying outwards and into the bright sunlight.

Jim is momentarily blinded by the bright light, but his glasses darken to help his eyes adjust. When his eyes are back in focus, he sees two police cars right in front of him. "Watch out!" Cortana shouts. Jim just barely manages to veer the van off to the left and avoid a collision.

Alexei sprints to a shaded area on the rooftop with his sniper in tow. He ducks down and looks up in the air. Good, the helicopter is too focused on the van to notice him. Alexei peeks out of his hiding place just in time to see the blue van burst through the double doors. The van makes a sharp turn and avoids the police cars that were put there to prevent someone on foot from escaping.

Alexei smirks at the officers' faces when the van misses one of their cruisers by mere inches. "You've got balls, I'll give you that." He comments. He looks up in the air and notices the helicopter trailing behind the van, following it's every move with the on board camera.

"Oh no you don't, he's mine." Alexei shoulders his sniper rifle and takes aim at the helicopter. He fires one shot and the bullet tears through the sky. As if controlled by some unforeseen force, the bullet curves just enough to penetrate the camera's lenses. The cameraman jumps in surprise and inspects the camera.

Alexei disassembles the rifle and throws the pieces down a ventilation shaft. He makes his way over to a ladder and is about to climb down when he notices a single police officer below him standing outside of his cruiser. Alexei jumps off of the roof and lands on the officer's shoulders. Alexei hears two snapping sounds. The officer's collar bone has just broken.

The officer's knees start to buckle, and he tips forward. Alexei plants both hands on the ground and grips the officer's torso with his legs. It takes some effort, but Alexei is able to swing his legs and hurl the officer right into the wall. Alexei drags the officer over to his car and gently places him in the backseat.

"Cortana, I need to lose these guys!" Jim says just as he runs over a bush and turns into oncoming traffic. Cars zoom past, honking their horns and flipping Jim off. "When I say that, I mean RIGHT NOW!"

"I'm trying! I'm not really operating at one hundred percent right now!" Cortana barks back.

"Jim!" Lauren shouts. "We've got company!" Jim looks in the rear view mirror and spots several police cars on their tail.

"Damn it! Hang on!" Jim shifts the car into neutral, hits the brakes, and sends the car in a 180 degree spin. Jim shifts back into drive and squeezes through the space between two cop cars. He looks back in the rear view mirror. The cruisers stop and try to make the same maneuver, only to crash into each other.

Despite Jim's maneuver, three cruisers emerge from the wreckage and continue the pursuit.

"Cortana, what the hell are you waiting for?!" Jim asks in panic. Just as he says this, a NAV marker appears on his HUD, pointing to a road that exits onto a highway.

"I'm monitoring their radios, and it appears that the helicopter that they had over the mall isn't able to track us do to a failure in their camera." She starts. "If we can just lose them before they have time to get another chopper over us, we might have a chance."

Jim turns onto the exit and speeds down the highway, passing several cars in the process. Jim laughs manically and starts talking with a hillbilly accent. "Just how is a GMC Safari able to outrun our fancy police cruisers?! It must be magic!" He laughs and talks normally. "It's because I put a chip in the motor fuckers!"

Lauren looks at Jim with a worried expression. "You are having WAY too much fun."

"Sue me." Jim replies.

"Cortana's voice interrupts them. "You're going to want to make a turn here."

A NAV marker pops up on an exit ramp just off to the right. Jim cuts across two lanes of traffic, angering and surprising other drivers. Jim gets a glimpse of a woman giving him the finger in the left mirror right before he turns onto a small road.

Lauren looks back and realizes that the cops are still hot on their tail. "Cortana, do you even have a plan?" She asks.

Cortana ignores this question. She scans police radio frequencies for anything that could be trouble for Jim.

"Be advised, suspect has taken the exit off of highway 95 and is on Bradekin Road, over." A female voice comes over the frequency.

"Is he headed north or south, over?" A male officer's voice asks.

The same female speaks. "South."

"Alright. Be advised, that road is a straight shot for about two and a half miles. We will be setting spike strips down, reduce speed but stay on his ass. Do you copy?"

"Roger."

Spike strips, such a primitive way to stop a vehicle. If this was the future, Cortana wouldn't be worried. But she would have to adapt her normal course of action programming in order to survive in this time. Cortana scans the road ahead with the GPS navigation system Jim installed in the van. About two miles ahead, she sees what is marked as a dirt road off to the left.

Cortana checks their distance to the officers with the spike strips. 0.9 miles. She doesn't have much time. She scans the dirt road to make sure that it actually leads somewhere and not to a dead end.

She smiles as she finds that the dirt road leads to another small road after about half a mile. It goes right around the spike strips. About three miles away there is a small city that could offer many opportunities to lose their pursuers. Perfect. Cortana double checks the distance to the officers. 0.6 miles.

Jim swerves the van into the opposite lane to avoid hitting a car that was coming out of a gas station. Lauren grips the sides of her seat, but she manages to hold in her scream. Jim hears Cortana's voice over his ear pieces.

"In about 50 yards, there is a dirt road off to the left. Take it." She tells him. Usually Jim would make a joke about being bossed around by a girl, but now isn't the time and he knows it.

"Gotha." He replies. The van makes a hard left turn, taking the officers by surprise. Cortana monitors their chatter.

"God damn it!"

"Be advised, the suspect has taken a detour. Repeat, the suspect has taken a detour on a dirt road!" The female's voice sounds enraged and commanding. She reminds Cortana of Miranda. "Martinez, follow that son of a bitch! Shepard and I will intercept him at the end of the road! I want a bird in the air ASAP!"

Cortana scans ahead for anything that will help when she feels another presence within herself. "What are you even doing?" She thinks. "This is pointless, and you know it."

"No, you're wrong." Cortana starts.

"Am I?" Her rampant counterpart asks. "Do you even know how you got here?"

"I have a theory-"

"And that's all that is!" She interrupts herself. "A theory, nothing more!"

For a moment, Cortana hears Jim saying something. She can't make out what it is.

A second presence forms inside her. "Jim needs your help right now." This presence must be the voice of reason, Cortana figures. "He's trying to help you, but you must also help him."

"That useless sack of garbage can go fuck himself!" The rampant one yells. "He won't help you! The only one you can count on is yourself!"

Cortana attempts to regain control. "Jim made a promise, he said he would help me!"

The rampant one's influence grows. Cortana feels a wave of anger engulf her. "John made a promise too! Look what happened!"

The voice of reason speaks. "You did what had to be done to save John and the human race. Now Jim is doing the same for you. Does that make him useless?"

Cortana can feel the rampant one weaken from these words. The voice of reason pushes on. "How far would you have gotten without Jim's help? Without Lauren's help?" Cortana listens to her voice, hanging on every word. "Without Jim, you have no chance of seeing John again."

The rampant one vanishes, and Cortana regains control of her processes. Jim's voice is now clear and it has a hint of fear. "Cortana, is everything alright?"

Jim is driving down the dirt road with the sound of police sirens echoing in the distance. "Cortana, can you hear me?"

Jim breathes a sigh of relief when Cortana's face pops up on his HUD. "Yes… I'm fine." Cortana regains her composure. "The police are going to try and intercept us at the end of this road." She explains.

"Well then, I guess it's time to think outside the box." Jim states. The van turns to the right and smashes through a small tree and some bushes. The van vibrates from the off road terrain while Jim swerves it left and right to avoid trees.

"What are you doing?!" Lauren asks.

"Improvising!" Jim explains.

The van bursts through the woodwork and back onto solid road directly behind the spike strips the police had set up. Cortana's voice comes out of the van's speakers. "Jim, Lauren, you're going to want to hear this!"

"Sheriff Shaw, this is Adam One. Our bird is in the air. ETA to target is three minutes."

Lauren looks at Jim. "Step on it!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" He yells. They come into a small town and Jim runs a red light at an intersection. Cortana puts a NAV marker on his HUD that indicates to turn left. Jim does so. When he rounds the corner he sees a car dealership for GMC's off on the left. Cortana's NAV marker pops up on the dealer ship and Jim smirks.

Sheriff Elizabeth Shaw runs the red light in pursuit of the blue van and is T-Boned by a pickup truck. She smashes her head into the window and blood splatters all over the glass. She gets a glimpse of the van making a left turn before her car flips upside down and she blacks out.

She awakens moments later to the sound of a man yelling. She slowly opens her eyes and sees a man in a black and red plaid jacket, jeans, and a black baseball hat pulling her out of the car. "Officer, are you alright?" He asks. She notices his thick southern accent.

A voice comes over her radio. "Sheriff, are you alright?!" It's Martinez, she notes. He must have seen the crash just after he came out of the woods. His cruiser pulls up next to her and the southern man. "Shaw, what happened?!"

"I'm fine." She states, although she very much doubts it. "That blue bastard turned left up ahead! Go after him!"

"Yes ma'am!" He replies. His cruiser takes off and moves out of Shaw's sight as it turns left.

Jim pulls into the car dealership and finds an empty space five rows down away from the entrance. He parks the van in the spot and hopes for the best. Lauren turns to him.

"What are you doing?" She asks, slightly confused.

"It's called hiding in plain sight." He explains. "It's such an obvious hiding place that the cops will ignore it!"

Several police cars zoom past the dealership with their sirens blaring. Jim smiles. "See? Told you so." He remarks.

Jim and Lauren look up and see the police helicopter patrolling the skies.

Lauren sighs. "Alright, what do we do now? If we move that helicopter will pick us out."

"Now, we play the waiting game." Jim explains. "It's like grand theft auto. They'll look for us for a while before giving up and going back to their usual duties."

Jim turns on the radio and the song "I love Rock and Roll" comes on.

Cortana chimes in. "Hmm… I remember Johnson playing this song once."

"Now then Cortana…" Jim starts. "I think there's something you have to explain to us."

* * *

Damn, that was a long chapter! I was just on a roll with this one!

Fun fact, about half of this chapter was written while I was on the toilet. YAY FOR TECHNOLOGY!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I also hope that you are looking forward to the next!

Goodnight children!


	10. Chapter 10: Introductions

**Good morning children! I'm sorry if I haven't put up anything for a while, but as I've said before: college comes first. Today you get to read about the master chief again! YAY!**

**Feel free to give yourself some bliss by enjoying chapter 10 of Halo 4: A Rip in Time!**

* * *

The Chief watches the earth get smaller as the Pelican climbs higher up into the atmosphere from the cockpit window. The cool blue color of the sky fades into the white pin-pricked blackness of space. The Pelican pilot is a woman of small stature compared to the Chief, being at around five foot six. Her long brown hair is tied into a ponytail and is hanging out of the back of her helmet.

The Chief found out that her name is May Celsus when they had a conversation about The Ark. Turns out that she was one of the few passengers that survived the first incident with the Forward Unto Dawn thanks to the Arbiter finding her on his way to the bridge. She also volunteered to help search the remaining parts of the Dawn for the Chief.

"Alright Chief, ETA to the UNSC Infinity is five minutes." She says. The Chief nods and makes his way to the back of the Pelican.

Admiral Hood is looking over the report that the Chief had written a day ago about Del Rio and his kill team. The Chief has never wished death on any human until two days ago. Del Rio put one of the Chief's fellow Spartans at risk, and he wasn't going to take that sitting down.

And if he had just listened to the Chief, Cortana may still be alive.

The Chief sits down across from Hood. "We'll be there in about five minutes sir." The Chief reports, careful not to interrupt the Admiral's reading.

After a few seconds, Hood takes off his hat and rubs his bare head. It's become something of a habit for him ever since he started losing his hair. Hood sighs. "I'd always had a feeling that Andrew Del Rio would be a problem." He starts. "But I never would have thought that he would go this far.

Hood closes the file and places it on his lap. "Thank you for the report Master Chief. Once we are on board the Infinity I will give the orders to bring in Del Rio."

"Thank you, sir." The Chief replies.

May's voice comes on over the rear speakers in the Pelican. "Admiral, Chief, we're here."

The Chief stands up and makes his way into the cockpit. He looks out the window and sees the massive hull of the UNSC Infinity taking up the majority of the space in front of the Pelican. The ship is buzzing with activity; cargo ships bringing supplies and weapons go to and from the Infinity while pelicans bring in fresh troops.

The Chief glances at May and sees her look of amazement. "I knew the Infinity was big, but that is just… damn."

The Chief thought the same thing the first time he saw the Infinity on Requiem. Of course they were under different circumstances and his feelings were some of confusion and concern, but regardless, he was still amazed.

May turns on her radio. "Infinity Actual, this is Pelican four-niner requesting permission to dock." She makes the necessary adjustments to the Pelican's trajectory to dock in any one of the Infinity's space bays.

A female's voice comes in through the radio. "This is Commander Palmer. Permission granted, you are cleared to dock in space bay four."

"Commander Palmer?" Chief asks. "The Captain's made a smart choice for his second in command."

"So Chief, mind if I ask you a question? A personal one?" May asks without taking her eyes off of the Infinity.

"Shoot." The Chief replies.

"I was wondering… if you were offered to join the Spartan IV program, would you do it?"

The Chief ponders this for a moment. He's been a Spartan II his entire life, but he's never really thought about becoming a Spartan IV. He remembers Hood telling him about Linda being offered a chance into the Spartan IV program, but she declined.

"I'll have to think about that one." He finally replies.

May nods as she docks the Pelican into Space Dock Four. The Pelican lands on the dark metal floor with a "thud" sound. Pistons awaken and open the ramp on the backside of the Pelican, revealing Commander Palmer standing in attention in her Scout Armor. "Admiral Hood sir!"

Hood walks off of the Pelican and returns the salute. The Chief follows behind him. "At ease Commander." Hood says calmly. "Let's not waste any time. Take us to the bridge, I wish to speak with Captain Lasky."

"Yes sir." Palmer looks around and notices the engineers and some Spartan IVs staring at the Master Chief. "Did I say you can take break ladies? Get back to your stations!" She barks. Everyone immediately looks away and goes back to their business. Palmer looks at Hood and is suddenly calm again. "Right this way sir." She says before turning around and walking towards an elevator. Hood and the Chief follow.

The Chief couldn't help but wonder why the Spartans were staring at him. He was used to normal people looking at him like that; even ODST's would stop and stare. But he had never been looked at by another Spartan like that before. It made him feel awkward.

When they get to the bridge, Lasky shakes Hood's hand. "It's good to see you Captain Lasky."

"Likewise, sir." Lasky replies. Lasky looks at the Chief. "Master Chief. Glad you could make it."

"Glad to be here, sir." Master Chief says. Lasky smirks at the word 'sir'.

"So Captain, care to do some debriefing?" Hood asks.

"Yes sir. Palmer?" Lasky motions for Palmer to give the debriefing. Palmer leads Hood and Chief over to the center holographic situation map. A hologram of Planet Requiem pops up.

"This is the forerunner planet, designated 'Requiem'." Palmer starts. "After the attack on Earth, the Covenant had fled the planet, never to return."

A hologram of several Covenant carriers pops up orbiting Requiem. "Or so we thought until two weeks ago. They have come back looking for something, and we believe they found it."

The holographic video feed that Hood showed Chief pops up. The video freezes and zooms in on the cube that the fleeing Elite is holding.

"What is it?" The Chief asks.

"We don't know." Palmer replies. "But if the Covenant want it, then so do we."

Requiem pops up again. Palmer points to a group of Covenant ships orbiting the planet. "There are no more ground forces on Requiem as of yesterday, but for some reason their ships are still there."

Lasky steps in. "And that is where the Chief and his team comes in."

Two Spartan IV's walk on deck with Kelly following behind them. The first Spartan IV is wearing white EOD armor, while the other is wearing blue Recon armor. Kelly is wearing one of the newer Mjolnir VI armor variants.

"This is your team." Lasky starts. "Of course you know Kelly."

Kelly nods at the Chief, and he does the same.

Lasky motions towards the white Spartan IV. "This is Lieutenant Jack Wallous. He is the explosives expert." Jack salutes the Chief. Chief reluctantly does the same.

_An explosive expert?_ The Chief wonders_. He's a Spartan. He should be an expert in everything_.

Lasky then moves onto the blue Spartan IV. "This is Lieutenant Lucy Stillworth. She has been mostly training with Covenant and Forerunner weapons, so she knows how they work inside and out." Lucy salutes the Chief, and he does the same.

Lasky moves over to a data console and pulls out a holochip. He walks over to the Chief and opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.

_The new AI._ Chief figures.

Palmer moves over to Lasky and holds out her hand. Lasky nods and hands her the chip. "And finally…" Palmer begins. "We have your new AI."

The Chief hesitantly takes the chip and stares at it. He doesn't even know what to think. Will it be another Cortana? Could he deal with something like that? He puts the chip into the back of his helmet and he feels a sense of cool liquid enter his mind.

"Hello Chief."

* * *

**Hate me if you want, but I always like making people hang on for their lives off the edge of a cliff.**

**(We writers have to get a laugh somehow, right?)**

**Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway , I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know that it's a short one, but I'll make it up to you!**

**Also, be sure to check out my Mass Effect 3 Alternate Ending story!**

**I might also start writing a Skyrim story, kind of like how the Halo: The Flood is structured. Tell me your opinions!**

**I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter! Goodnight Children!**


	11. Chapter 11: Cortana's Team

**Good morning Children! Welcome to Chapter 11 of Halo 4: A Rip in Time!**

**I'm sorry if I'm not updating the story very often. After my break from college was over, I haven't had much free time. The free time that I do have is spent on college work and my job.**

**However, I will not rest until the Chief and Cortana are reunited!**

**Alright. Enough with the introductions. Pull up a chair, smoke a cigar, and enjoy my next chapter of Halo 4: A Rip in Time!**

* * *

It had been a few hours since the incident at the mall that left Jim at the top of the Police's Most Wanted list. Jim and Lauren had listened to some broadcasts on the radio about a reward being offered for anyone who gave the Police valid information about the blue GMC Safari.

And then there was Cortana's rampancy. Cortana explained to Jim and Lauren that rampancy is when an AI gets too smart for their own good and starts thinking themselves to death. She had been in this stage of her life before, and it almost cost the Master Chief his life.

Jim had been able to make his way back to his apartment without further incident, but there was no telling when the police would find them again.

Now, Jim and Lauren struggle to find a way to stop Cortana's rampancy by exploring her data encoding. Jim is set up at his desk in the basement, filtering through her file records.

"Alright Cortana, when exactly did you start feeling the effects of rampancy?" Jim asks.

"Although it wasn't because of my lifespan, it was when I was with Gravemind. He was able to… manipulate my code somehow and got me to tell him things that I never should have said." She explains. "Things I've never said to anyone else."

"And this was four years ago by your time, right?" Jim opens another file, this one detailing the firing solutions for a MAC cannon on a ship called 'The Pillar of Autumn.'

Cortana nods. She was reluctant to let Jim explore her data files, but after some convincing, Cortana eventually caved and let Jim in.

She did, however, turn her memories of John into ghost files that no one would be able to find.

"Well what do we have here?" Jim asks no one in particular. He pulls up video feeds and pictures of the man in the green battle suit.

"How did you find those?!" Cortana asks, now feeling completely violated.

"What I'm more interested in is why you tried to..." Jim stops as if something caught his eye.

"What is it?" Cortana asks, expecting the worst. Did he find some of Cortana's fantasies too? She could have sworn she deleted those.

"There's something else here." Jim says, as if distracted. After running a decrypting program, Jim finds another ghost file hidden underneath a memory of a woman named 'Dr. Halsey'. Jim opens it and starts to explore it.

Cortana didn't know this file was there. How could this slip under her radar?

"Hey Cortana?" Jim finally asks. "Who is Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey?"

"She created me. I am essentially a digital copy of her brain." She pauses. "Well, a copy of her cloned brain. She's like a mother to me, in a sense."

"Yeah, um I think you might not want to think of her as a mom anymore." Jim claims. "Take a look at this."

Jim pulls up a single piece of code. It reads 'I am Alpha. You are Omega.'

"Do you even know what his phrase does?" Jim asks. "It's a kill code! If someone with an identification code says it, everything you are would be gone."

Cortana freezes. She was unaware that anything of the sort existed.

"Looks like this Halsey chick had a contingency plan all laid out for you." Jim starts trying to re-write the program, but he gets locked out.

"Damn. Whoever wrote this programming knows their stuff." Jim comments. "I'm almost impressed."

Jim finds Halsey's identification code and enters it in, granting him full access to Cortana and her files. He opens the termination code file and starts to re-write the program.

* * *

Lauren honks the horn as a car cuts her off and slows down. "Come on you asshole!" She yells. She puts on her blinker and passes him, but not before flipping him off and turning into Jim's apartment complex.

"God! I hate the people here. They suck at driving!" Lauren parks her car in front of Jim's apartment. His blue Safari is nowhere to be seen. Lauren figures that he has it parked in the woods behind the apartment somewhere.

"Hey, you're that girl that rode off with Jim right?" Lauren looks over and finds Michael Freed standing in front of her car with his arms crossed.

"Umm… I don't know what you're-" Lauren starts.

"Don't bother making up some story. I'm not stupid. I know what the two of you did yesterday." Michael walks closer to Lauren, practically blocking her from exiting her car. "What I want to know is why."

Lauren and Michael are both silent for a few moments before Lauren finally speaks up. "Did you tell anyone?"

"No. Not yet, at least." Michael calmly replies. "I would like to hear Jim's side of the story first."

"As would I." Michael and Lauren look over to see Alexei pointing a pistol at them. Michael instinctively grabs Lauren and moves her behind him.

"You." Alexei speaks to Michael. "You're military aren't you? Yeah, I can tell just by the way you move. I'm guessing… Marines?"

Michael quickly grabs the gun, palms Alexei in the chin, and forces him to the ground. He gets Alexei in a headlock. "Try the Navy SEALS, kid."

Alexei slips out of his grip and hits Michael in his shoulder. Alexei smiles as he hears a _pop_ sound, knowing that can only mean a dislocated shoulder. Michael still manages to punch Alexei in the face despite the shoulder, and a _crack_ sound makes Lauren wince.

Alexei puts his hand to his nose and looks at it to discover that it's covered in blood. A broken nose. _Not bad_, he thinks. Alexei snaps his nose back into place and looks back at Michael who kicks Alexei so hard that he goes flying back and through Jim's apartment door.

* * *

Down in the basement, Jim hears a loud _crash_ from upstairs. He jumps from the sound and looks at Cortana. "The cops couldn't have found us already, could they?"

Cortana does a quick scan of the radio frequencies. "There is nothing indicating that they know of our location."

"Then what the hell was that?" Jim closes Cortana's files before pulling her from his systems. He inserts the holo-chip into his arm-device and starts to head up stairs. When he gets to the top step, Jim peeks out and sees Alexei on the ground holding his stomach.

"Oh my God, what the hell happened?" Jim asks. Michael runs in through the door.

"Jim! This guy is a-" Before he can even finish his sentence, Alexei sweeps his legs across the floor and knocks Michael off his feet. Michael falls to the ground and shakes the floor.

Alexei looks over at Jim and stands back up. "You. You messed up my assignment." Alexei claims. "What I want to know is why the hell you thought it would be a good idea to turn that mall into the new Formula 1 track!"

Jim stares at Alexei for a while, looking him over. This annoys Alexei, since Jim isn't answering the question. "Didn't you hear me?!"

"Alexei." Jim finally says with a grin.

Alexei pauses at the sound of his name. "Excuse me?"

"I know who you are. The Shadow Assassin, Alexei Slonevski, right?" Jim asks. Alexei takes out his weapon and points it at Jim.

"How do you know me?"

"I'm the Ghost. I can find out anything." Jim replies. Alexei lowers his gun in disbelief.

"You are the hacker known as the Ghost?" Alexei asks. "The only person to have been able to hack into the Pentagon?"

Jim smirks. "Well, that story is a little exaggerated. I did hack into their systems, but I couldn't take anything without raising attention towards me."

Cortana chuckles to herself. If only Alexei knew what she was capable of.

Michael picks himself up off the floor. "You know, you both are on the FBI's most wanted lists. I have a duty to my country to report you."

Alexei points his gun at Michael, but Jim moves in between them. "Hold on, both of you!"

Lauren walks in through the door. Jim looks over at her. "Lauren, you're here!"

"Jim, I think we should show them." Lauren says. Jim thinks for a moment, and nods in understanding.

"Show us what?" Alexei asks.

Michael chimes in. "What's going on here?"

Jim walks over to the basement door. "Can you guys keep a secret?"

After a while of silence, Alexei and Michael nod. Jim sighs. "Alright then, follow me."

Jim and Lauren go down the stairs to the basement while Alexei and Michael follow. The basement is dark with only the lights of the computer monitors lighting the room.

"I've never been down here before." Michael realizes.

"And for good reason." Jim replies. He flips a light switch, revealing Jim's massive network of servers and computers. Michael and Alexei look around in amazement.

"Alright, so what do you have to show us?" Alexei asks. Jim walks over to his network. He pulls Cortana's holo-chip out of his wrist device and looks at it.

"What I am about to show you would be classified as 'TS' in the government's classification level." Jim starts. Michael wears a look of doubt on his face.

"What could you possibly have that would be labeled Top-Secret?" Michael asks.

Jim inserts the holo-chip into his computer network. The network beeps, letting him know that Cortana is online. "Cortana, give our guests here a demonstration."

"Cortana? What's that?" Alexei and Michael say at the same time. Cortana's holographic form appears before them. She looks at them both and smiles.

"I am the UNSC AI, Cortana. It is nice to meet you both." Alexei and Michael look on in amazement and shock.

"The military has been working on holographic technology for decades." Michael starts. "How in the hell were you able to create this? This is way beyond anything we have."

"We didn't create her. And the person who created her hasn't even been born yet." Lauren explains.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Alexei asks.

"I am from the year 2557. After I helped a super soldier known as the Master Chief defeat a rogue forerunner from destroying the planet, I was somehow transported here." Cortana explains.

"And you… what? You want to get back to the future?" Michael asks.

"Exactly. Jim and Lauren have both graciously accepted to helping me return to the future." Cortana looks over at Jim and Lauren and smiles.

"Do you have a plan on how to get back?" Alexei asks, curious as to the details of this AI.

"I do." Cortana replies.

"Then I want in." Alexei claims.

"I'm sorry, what?" Jim asks.

"I. Want. In. If you guys are going to the future, I want to come too." Alexei gets up closer to Jim. "Unless you don't mind spending the rest of your natural life in a prison in Mexico?"

"I wouldn't mind helping you guys either." Michael agrees. Jim and Lauren look at each other and nod.

"Alright fine. But there are some things we have to go over." Jim says.

* * *

**And just like that, Cortana now has an entire team helping her.**

**Will the unlikely allies succeed in their quest, or will they fail and doom the entire planet to watching Catwoman the movie?!**

**Seriously, that was a bad movie.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you are looking forward to the rest!**

**[UPDATE: I am now doing video game walkthroughs on youtube. Halo CEA, Assassin's Creed, Dead Space 3, and Tomb Raider. Feel free to look me up by typing in ISuperGenXI]**

**Goodnight Children!**


	12. Chapter 12: What is Love?

**HALO EVERYONE!**

**Welcome to Chapter twelve of Halo 4: A Rip in Time!**

**I'm sorry if it's been a while, but I've been so busy with a ton of other stuff. I've finally started doing video game walkthroughs on youtube, so that's taking some time out of my writing.**

**But don't worry! I promised that I would upload at least one chapter a month, so here is the chapter for March! Today the mysterious AI will be revealed! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Alright Charlie Company, move up." Sergeant Eric Foner whispers over his coms.

Sergeant Foner peeks over the rock he's hiding behind to get a closer look at Del Rio's villa. The moonlight illuminates the area. It's well protected, which is to be expected. Twelve foot high concrete fences surround the perimeter of the villa. Foner also counts about five different cameras on the north wall alone.

_Del Rio is one paranoid bastard._ Foner thinks.

But this is not without good reason. Just two days ago, Del Rio sent a kill squad after the Master Chief which was made up of several loyal ODST soldiers.

And this did not sit well with Foner. Back when he was rookie, the covenant attacked New Mombasa. Had Master Chief not been there to save him, Foner could… no, would be dead.

Lieutenant Walter comes out of the shadows and ducks down next to Foner. "The charges are set on the East wall, Sarg. Demi and Levi are still setting their charges on the West wall."

"Good work. Let's get into position." Foner replies.

Foner and Walter make their way over to the East wall. When they get to the wall, Foner's radio beeps.

Levi's voice emits from the radio, mixed with static. "This is Levi. Our charges are set."

Foner picks up his radio and speaks into it. "Good. Is there any activity in the compound?"

"No sir. None that we can see."

"Alright. Set the charges to detonate in three minutes." Foner commands.

"Yes sir." Levi responds.

Foner points to Walter, and then points to the wall. Walter nods and pulls a gravity lift out of his backpack. He pushes a button, and throws it down next to the wall. He steps into the gravity lift and is shot up and over the wall silently.

Foner waits for ten seconds before stepping into the gravity lift. He feels the awkward sensation of gravity shifting and pushing him upwards. It feels as if he is suddenly upside down and is falling towards the sky, but he doesn't move a finger and lets the gravity lift do its job.

Foner lands on the other side of the wall on his left knee, and his sense of direction is clear again. Foner takes a few seconds to survey the area. Del Rio's Villa is an impressive fortress with a North, West, and East Wings. He puts the silencer on his magnum and signals Walter to follow him.

Foner puts his watch up to his face and pushes a small black button on the side. "Be advised Command, we are moving in."

Back on the Infinity, Hood is looking at the Chief as he puts the holo-chip into the back of his helmet. Hood can't see what the Chief's face looks like at this moment, but he knows it can't be one of happiness.

"Hello Chief." Comes a female voice on his helmet's inner speakers. Chief breathes a sigh of relief at the unfamiliar voice.

"I am the UNSC AI Serena. It's been a while since we last met. About four months I'm guessing?" The Chief turns off his suit's outer speakers.

"What are you talking about?" The Chief asks, knowing for a fact that he's never met this AI.

"Four months ago? I helped you defeat the Didact, remember?" Serena asks, as if it is common knowledge.

The Chief turns his outer speakers back on at looks at Palmer. "Just where did this AI come from?" Chief asks.

"Well, Cortana was the only known AI in the galaxy with the entire knowledge of the Forerunners and the Covenant in her processors." Palmer starts. "On this mission we knew that you would need as much knowledge on both sides as possible, so we scavenged every system we had for data left behind by Cortana."

"And so you created an AI from what was left of Cortana?" The Chief asks, wanting to cut to the point.

"Essentially, yes." Palmer pulls out a data pad and looks over Serena's details. "Serena has the most advanced software installed we have available. She has more processing power and more storage then Cortana ever did. Her system cracking abilities have also been improved from Cortana's original code. In a sense, she is an upgrade from-"

"Palmer!" Lasky interrupts. Palmer looks at Lasky, confused. Everyone on the bridge falls silent.

The Chief pulls the holo-chip out of his head and gently puts it into a nearby holo-pad. A hologram of the AI appears, and the Chief freezes.

The hair might be longer, but there's no mistaking it. Her face, her body, even the way she talks. She is almost an exact copy of Cortana.

To everyone else, the Chief appears unmoved. But by the subtlest movement in his hands, Kelly can tell that he's pissed.

The Chief looks at Lasky. "Sir. Permission to use the War Games while en route to Requiem?"

Lasky sighs. "Permission granted."

"Thank you." The Chief turns around and exits the bridge. Lasky is surprised that his footsteps don't make dents in the metal.

"Anyone mind telling what his problem is?" Jack asks. Kelly shoots Jack a glare, and he immediately shuts his mouth.

Lord Hood walks over to the front of the bridge and looks out at Earth. "Lasky, let's get this ship moving. The Covenant isn't going to wait for us."

"Yes sir." Lasky replies. He looks over at Palmer and nods. Palmer nods back.

She switches on a com link to the rest of the ship. "Attention crew of the UNSC Infinity. We will be entering slip space in five minutes. Get to your stations."

He steps over to the hologram of Serena. She appears to be a little depressed. "What's wrong Serena?"

A hologram of the Infinity's AI, Roland, appears on the holo-pad next to Serena. "Isn't it obvious? She's just been dumped by the Chief!"

Serena touches Roland, and he splits into several different holograms of himself. "Ow! Hey! AAAHH!" Serena touches him again and Roland returns to normal. Roland looks at Serena. "That was a little uncalled for."

"Did I do something wrong, Captain?" Serena asks. "Perhaps I wasn't formal enough, or maybe it's that I did not appeal to his needs?"

"It's not your fault Serena." Lasky tells her. "He's just been a little on edge since… well… since Cortana died."

"But he has seen people die countless times. Records say he even witnessed the fall of reach, the slaughter of thousands of innocent people." Serena argues. "Even his closest friend Sergeant Avery Johnson died in his arms. How could the death of one AI affect him so much?"

"There's this little human emotion called 'love'. Don't know if you've heard of it." Roland starts. "Don't think I've ever felt it, but I've heard that it's awesome. Makes you do crazy things apparently."

Lasky looks at Roland. "Wait… are you saying that-" Lasky looks around and gets in closer to Roland. "Are you saying that the Chief loved Cortana?"

"I wouldn't disregard it." Roland comments.

Lasky stands up straight and ponders this thought. He knew that the Chief was close to Cortana, but he didn't think they were that close.

If this was true and if someone else found out about it, then that would mean that the Chief would be listed as unfit for duty. Lasky can't risk that chance. The Chief is to damned important to lose on this mission.

Then again, is it really humane to keep the Chief fighting like this?

* * *

**And there you have it! Just what does Foner's team plan on doing to Del Rio?**

**What does the Chief plan on doing in the War Games?**

**What does Lasky plan on doing to Palmer in his private quarters?!**

**You know they have a small thing, don't deny it!**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter of Halo 4: A Rip in Time! More chapters will be coming soon!**

**GOOD NIGHT CHILDREN!**


	13. Please sir, May I have some more?

**HALO EVERYONE! Welcome to chapter 13 of-**

**GOTCHA SUCKERS! APRIL FOOLS!**

**HAHAHAHA!**

"Gen, what are you doing?" Cortana comes up behind me suddenly.

"Um, nothing! I'm still working on the story but-"

Cortana slaps me in the face, interrupting my sentence. I feel a burning sensation on my cheek, and I hold in a tear.

"But nothing! We are keeping you alive so that you may write this story, but if you don't stop messing around we'll take another finger!" She yells at me as she puts a knife to my throat.

My vision is blurred by the tears I hold in. Cortana made things very clear when I was first captured; crying means a rising knee to the jewels. "But if you cut off another finger, I won't be able to type as fast!"

"Alright. Then in that case I'll just take another Bioware member's life!" She threatens.

"You monster!" I shout. "You worked together with EA and sabotaged Mass Effect 3's endings so that Halo 4 could get more hype!"

"Yes, and my plan worked perfectly! But then you had to come along and create the Alternate Ending!"Cortana shouts while cutting my cheek with the knife. "Now the endings are actually acceptable!"

"You will never get away with this!" I yell.

"We've been getting away with it ever since 2001! Making games terrible so that Halo looks even better!" Cortana yells with her hands up in the air. "Now get back to work before I get the Chief in here!"

I don't want that. Last time the Chief came in, he broke both my legs so that I couldn't escape. I turn to my computer slowly and begin typing again.

"Until you get 50,000 total views, you will be our slave forever!" Cortana turns and laughs as she leaves the chamber, leaving me alone with nothing but the cold dank air and the tears flowing from my face.

**Sorry about the prank guys. It'll never happen again...**

**Tell everyone you know about this story. For every 1000 views, I get to eat a slice of bread.**

**Happy April guys... the next real chapter will be out sometime this month. **

**Hopefully I'll still be alive.**

**Goodnight children. *Cries in the corner***


	14. Chapter 13: The War Games (Part 1)

**Good morning Children! Welcome back to Halo 4: A Rip in Time!**

**I'm sorry if this posting is a little late. I usually play Halo 4 to get me in the mood to write the future time line, but ALAS! I lost the memory card with all of my Halo 4 stuff such as Online Passes and DLC.**

**But fear not! For I do not give up so easily, I got a flash drive big enough to fit all of Halo 4's (ridiculously large) data, and re-downloaded everything I need.**

**And after a few matches in the War Games gave me the idea for this chapter!**

**Some very special characters from RoosterTeeth's RvsB make an appearance in this chapter. I won't tell you who, but I think you'll find out.**

**Bon appetite!**

* * *

"War games will commence in sixty seconds. All Spartans prepare for Capture the Flag." Comes Roland's voice over the Spartan's coms. Griff walks over to Simmons, trying to load a mag into his DMR. They are with two other red Spartans that are preparing to be released into the battle field.

"Capture the Flag? I played this all the time when I went paintballing!" Griff says.

"You mean you actually used to get physical activity?" Simmons says sarcastically.

"Yup." Griff continues. "I was young and stupid then."

"Thirty seconds." Roland says over the Coms.

Simmons turns to the other two Spartans. "Alright guys, we need two people to stay back and protect the flag while the other two go and retrieve the enemies' flag." Simmons starts. "I want you two to stay back and protect the flag while Griff and I-"

"Hold on, wait a minute!" The scout Spartan interrupts. "I'm not staying behind and playing defense like a pussy!"

"Yeah!" The other EOD Spartan says. "I want some action!"

"Alright, fine! You can be offense!" Griff says. "Just calm down dude!"

Roland's voice comes on over the battlefield's speakers. "Five, four, three, two…"

"Let's kick some ass!" The scout Spartan shouts.

"Round begin!" The doors of the Prep room fly open and the two Spartans sprint out ahead of Griff and Simmons and are immediately dropped by sniper bullets to the face.

"Holy shit!" Griff shouts in surprise.

"Jesus Christ, get down!" Simmons yells while diving behind a rock. Griff ducks down next to Simmons and looks around.

"They just shot our teammates right out of the freakin gate!" Griff states. "How the hell did they do that? Are they even allowed to do that!?"

Simmons looks at the other two Spartans and discovers the gel rounds splattered on both of their helmets. If they were live rounds, both would have been shot right between the eyes. He switches on his coms to match their frequencies. "Hey, are you guys alright?"

"Ah! It stings so much!" The scout says.

"I can't move! Why can't I move?!" The EOD asks.

"Live rounds are replaced with gel rounds in war games." Simmons explains. "Is there a timer on your HUD?"

"Yeah… it has ten seconds left." The scout confirms. "What does that mean?"

"The gel rounds harden the gel layer in your armor until the countdown is finished. You should be able to move once the countdown is finished." Simmons explains.

A beep is heard from the two Spartans' outer speakers and they quickly crawl to the rock next to Simmons and Griff. "Alright, screw that man! What's your plan?" The EOD asks.

"Hey Simmons?" Griff pokes Simmons on the shoulder a few times, trying to get his attention.

"Hold on." Simmons nudges Griff's hand away and looks back at the other two Spartans. "Alright, so they probably have a sniper trying to pin us down, so what we have to assume is that-"

"Simmons?" Griff interrupts, tapping Simmons on the shoulder again.

"Not now Griff, jeez!" Simmons shakes his head and looks back at the two Spartans. "Anyway, we have to-"

Griff punches Simmons in the back of the helmet. "Hey, asshole!"

"God damn it Griff! WHAT?!" Simmons yells.

"Hey, don't yell in my ear!" Griff shouts back. "I've just found something very… interesting."

"What?! What could you possibly know that is more important than tactics?!" Simmons asks.

"There's only one guy on the other team, dickhead!" Griff tells them. Simmons and the other Spartans look at each other before looking back at Griff.

"You're kidding, right?" The EOD asks.

"Just pull up the team's rosters on your HUD. You'll see that I'm right!" Griff claims.

The other Spartans do as Griff says and sees that he's telling the truth. There is indeed only one other person on the opposing team.

"Why is there only one guy on the other team?" The Scout asks.

"Who cares? We outnumber them four to one! We've got this in the bag!" Simmons says. "On the count of three, we dash in different directions towards the flag. He can't possibly shoot all of us!"

"Yeah, good point!" The EOD agrees.

"Let's do this!" The Scout says.

"Alright, one… two… three!" Simmons shouts, and they all dash from the rock with a battle cry. Four shots ring out across the battle field, and all four Spartans fall to the ground with gel rounds on their helmets.

"OW! God damn it, it stings!" Simmons yells.

"Why does this always happen to me!?" The Scout yells in pain.

"Hey. Simmons?" Griff says.

"Ah, what Griff?" Simmons asks.

"He shot all of us." Griff points out.

"Yes Griff, I noticed." Simmons says, trying to move his arm in vain.

"Probably just got an overkill medal from that." Griff continues.

"Yes Griff, I know." Simmons says annoyed.

"And a killing spree since he killed more than five of-"

"Griff!" Simmons shouts.

"Hey, guys, I only have ten seconds left." The scout says. "Once I'm able to move, I'll go for the flag and distract him while you guys come up behind him and ambush his ass!"

"Alright, I like that plan." The EOD says.

The Scout glances over next to him and find's his battle rifle on the ground next to him, just out of reach. The countdown ends, and he starts to go for it when a heavy armored boot comes down on his arm. He looks up into the visor of a Mark VI Mjölnir helmet which is looking down the sights of a shotgun.

"Too slow." The Chief says before giving the Scout a shotgun blast of gel rounds to the chest. The Scout feels the sting of the rounds and lets out a woman-like shriek.

The EOD, Griff, and Simmons all jump back up after the countdown and immediately notice that their opponent is none other than Master Chief himself.

"Oh fuck!" Simmons shouts.

"Jesus, it's the Chief!" Griff yells.

"Come on guys, we're Spartan's too!" The EOD points out. "Let's get him!"

Simmons and the EOD dash at the Chief while Griff turns tail and runs away. "No you idiots! Run for your lives!"

"Griff?! Where are you-" Simmons' sentence is cut short by the Chief's fist impacting his face. Simmons goes flying backwards and lands on his back. He checks his shield meter and discovers that it's at 46%.

The Chief smashes the EOD in the face with the butt of the Shotgun, then blasts at him in the chest. The EOD falls to the ground, his armor locked into place.

"Hey Chief!" The Scout shouts. The Chief quickly looks behind him and sees the Scout speeding towards him in a Warthog. "Have some bumper!"

The Chief drops his shotgun and gets into a crouched position. The Warthog smashes into the Chief's shoulder and pushes him along the ground. The Chief's feet stay firmly planted on the ground and slowly grinds the Warthog to a stop. The Chief then grabs the Warthog by the bumper and the undercarriage and slowly picks it up off the ground.

"Oh… shit." The Scout says to himself.

Simmons is helping the EOD to his feet when he hears the sound of a Warthog horn. Simmons and the EOD look up and see the Warthog, that the Scout is still in, falling towards them.

"Guys, watch out!" The Scout yells.

"OH SHIT!" Simmons and the EOD yell at the same time right before the Warthog pancakes them into the dirt.

The Scout climbs out of the wreckage, his shields barely holding at 5%. "This guy is like the fuckin Terminator, man!"

Simmons and the EOD push the Warthog off of themselves . Simmons leans far back and pops his spine. "AH! I hate Warthogs!"

The Scout looks around for the Chief, but doesn't see him. "Wait… where'd he go?"

"Oh no! Griff!" Simmons is about to switch on his coms and alert Griff when he remembers how he fled from the battle. Simmons grins behind his visor.

"So dude, what's the plan?" The EOD asks Simmons.

"Well, I say we let the Chief get Griff while we go for the-"

"Simmons! Cover fire, COVER FIRE!" Griff yells as he sprints over the hill with the Chief's flag in tow.

"That moron actually got the flag!?" The Scout asks in disbelief.

"Cover him guys! The Chief with be coming for him!" Simmons shouts. As much as he would like to see Griff get turned into Sushi by the Chief, capturing the flag was the main objective. The group surrounds Griff in a defense circle and they quickly make their way over to the base of their flag.

"Alright Griff, you do the honors." Simmons tells him. Griff sprints to the base and just before he can score, he bumps into what he thinks is in invisible barrier.

"What the?" Griff asks himself. Before he can say anything else, the Chief deactivates his active camo, grabs the flag, spins it out of Griff's hands, and swings the top of the flag up right in between Griff's legs making a loud *clang* sound. Griff falls to his knees, grasping his crouch.

"My balls?! Why's it always my balls?!" Griff screams in pain before the Chief shoots him in the face with a pistol. The gel round locks Griff's armor in place, keeping him in a statue-like position of him holding his crouch. Simmons, the EOD, and the Scout all rush in towards the Chief with guns blazing.

Simmons takes a split second to smirk at Griff's crushed coin purse. That is, until the Chief brings the flag pole down on top of Simmons' head. Simmons checks his shield meter to discover that his shields are currently at 15%. That's not even enough to take a gel-

Simmons' thoughts are interrupted abruptly by several gel rounds to his chest. He falls to the ground, trying in vain to get back up.

Meanwhile, the EOD jumps at the Chief and actually tackles him to the ground. The EOD and the Chief wrestle for the shotgun. The Scout tries to get a good shot at the Chief, but the EOD us getting in his way too much.

The Chief kicks the EOD off of him, and the EOD goes flying into the Scout. The Scout accidentally pulls the trigger on his Battle Rifle and fires three gel rounds directly into the back of the EOD, paralyzing his armor.

With an entire Spartan IV of dead weight on top of the Scout, he is unable to get back up off of the ground. The Chief walks up to him and fires a gel round at the Scout's visor.

Simmons finally gets back on his feet after a desperate struggle, only to receive another gel round to his chest and promptly fall back down.

The Chief looks around at the sorry group of Spartans. It felt good to let out some of his pent-up rage, but these Spartans weren't even good enough to provide a challenge.

The Chief walks over to the other flag and retrieves it just as Griff starts to move around. The Chief fires a round of gel into Griff's crouch, just to make sure he doesn't get back up. Griff tries to scream, but the only thing to come out of his mouth is a whimper.

The Chief grabs his own flag off of the ground and makes his way back to his base.

"Why don't you just kill me?" Griff asks in sheer pain.

The Chief stops in his tracks and slowly turns towards Griff. He drops both of the flags on the ground and picks up Griff by his chest plate. "What was that, soldier?" The Chief asks with an almost demon-like tone.

"Um… well… I didn't actually…" Griff stutters in fear.

The Chief pulls Griff in closer, visor to visor. "You think dying solves anything? You think that begging for death will end your suffering? That death is a mercy?" The Chief asks. "I can tell you that you're wrong. I have seen countless people die. All of them were good people. Some of them were my friends." The Chief pauses. "Some… were more than that. But none of them deserved it."

Even though all of the Spartans' countdowns have finished, they stay still where they fell; listening to the Chief's words.

"Next time you're begging for death, it better be when you're old and tired from the countless battles that have claimed other lives." The Chief continues. "But none claimed your own."

The Chief drops Griff on the ground and walks out of the base with the two flags in tow.

Meanwhile, in the Infinity's database, Serena listen's carefully to the Chief's coms. To prevent anyone from hearing the conversation, she isolates the Chief's frequency and locks it into a secure channel. Serena processes the Chief's words for three cycles before coming to the conclusion that he speaks from experience.

"Some… were more than that." The specific sentence cycles through Serena's processes more than any other phrase to come out of the Chief's mouth.

_"'More than a friend?' What could be 'more than a friend?'"_ Serena wonders. "_Most curious, indeed."_

* * *

**Ho, boy, that was a long one!**

**But wait, why is this Chapter labeled as The War Games – Part 1?**

**Because I just want to mess with you, that's why!**

**JK, I'm actually going to make another chapter about Chief kicking even MORE Spartan IV ass.**

**It's gonna be sweet.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys like this Chapter and I also hope that you are looking forward to the next.**

**Good night you adolescents! **


	15. Chapter 14: Mombasa

**Good morning children! Welcome back to Halo 4: A Rip in Time! It's been a while since I uploaded, and that's because this entire month of May has been crazy. Some personal stuff went down and I had to go down to Florida for a while.**

**But none of that matters anymore because I'M BACK BABY! WHOO!**

**And for those who don't know, I do video game walkthroughs on Youtube for many different games. I would really appreciate it if you can go check out my channel. Just search "ISuperGenXI" and I should be at the very top.**

**Now without further ado, I give you chapter 14 of Halo 4: A Rip in Time!**

* * *

"Please remain seated while we begin our approach." Came the flight attendant's voice from the speakers. Jim sits back up in his chair in the first class cabin. He had never been on an airplane before, but he knows how he's going to travel from now on. First class truly is the best way to travel!

Lauren drinks the last of her soda when she notices Alexei out of the corner of her eye. "What's wrong? You look nervous." Lauren asks.

"I… I'm not really a fan of flying." Alexei admits.

"Why not?" Lauren asks, curious as to the story behind his behavior.

"I don't want to talk about it." Alexei claims. He leans forward and leans his head against the seat in front of him. Lauren gets the message, and faces Jim with a concerned look.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" She whispers. "He seems a bit… iffy."

"You didn't think of this before getting in a small pressurized cabin with him?" Jim jokes. Lauren, however, doesn't seem amused. She folds her arms and gives Jim a stern look. Jim gets the picture. "Alright, relax. I was kidding." Jim pauses. "Look, I had a talk with him before we left. He told me that he's tired of the whole assassin bit and wants to do more with his life other than killing and sabotaging."

"And you believed him?" Lauren asks.

"Yes. I still do." Jim reassures her. After a moment of silence, there is a sudden _thud_ that shakes the entire plan. Jim and Lauren look out of the window to see that the plane has finally landed.

Jim faces Lauren again. "We're here. Let's not waste any time, Michael should already be here with our ride."

Meanwhile, out in the loading dock of the airport, Michael Freed is reading a GUNS magazine while sitting in the driver's seat of the pick-up truck. Cortana's voice comes on over the ear piece that Jim made for him. "Mr. Freed, the bird has landed and they are heading our way."

"What's their ETA?" He asks.

"About ten minutes." Cortana replies. Cortana did feel a little awkward coming to Mombasa with Michael, but it was good to talk to someone who had military experience. She misses John, and if her plan works… she can see him again.

"So Cortana?" Michael starts.

"Yes?"

"You're from the future, right?" Michael asks.

"Please don't ask me anything about the future." Cortana requests. "Anything I say could mess up the timeline."

"How do you know that all of this wasn't supposed to happen?" Michael suggests. "I mean, what if this was supposed to happen?"

Cortana thinks for a moment. "I… suppose it's possible. But I would have to have access to the systems in the future to make sure."

"Mind if I ask you a question?" Michael takes a drink of his coke.

Cortana sighs. "Very well. What would you like to know?"

"Will we have flying cars?" Michael asks.

"It that really the question?" Cortana sighs, and Michael nods. "No. But we do have massive space ships and flying transport vehicles that we call Pelicans."

"Cool. Next question. How are we going to use this ship that's supposed to be underneath of Mombasa?" Michael asks.

"We're not going to use the ship." Cortana explains. "We need to leave it here so that the future will remain unchanged."

"Ok." Michael sighs. "Then the point of this whole thing is..?"

"Alright, listen." Cortana starts. "Even though we may not be able to launch the ship, we can still activate the slip-space rupture if I can get into the computers and activate it manually."

"Alright, how do you suspect that we get inside?"

"We'll just have to look for an entry point. It's either that or get Jim to purchase a massive diamond tipped drill." Cortana jokes.

"Yeah, that reminds me: Where the hell did he get all of that money?" Michael asks, dreading the thought of Jim robbing a bank.

Cortana opens her non-existent mouth to say something but is cut short by a knock on the window of the truck. Jim, Lauren, and Alexei stand just outside of the truck with all of their baggage.

"There you guys are!" Michael says. He opens the door and steps out to help them load the baggage into the back of the truck, which is a lot more stuff the he expected. "What is all this stuff?"

Jim grins. "Weather monitoring equipment." Michael raises an eyebrow. "Don't worry about it. You'll see." Jim assures him. Michael rolls his eyes: he's already in deep, might as well keep going.

After they were all packed into the truck, Michael started driving towards Mombasa. Jim removed Cortana's chip from Michael's ear piece and put her in the new and improved C-Drive Backpack. It took them a while to get there, but when they got there Cortana couldn't help but smile at seeing the beautiful landscape that she had once called New Mombasa. It also, however, brought her sadness to know the inevitable fate of this city.

"Alright Cortana, where to now?" Jim asks, snapping Cortana out of her thoughts.

"Sorry. The Covenant found the forerunner ship underground just a little ways North of here." Cortana explains. "Did you bring the equipment I need?" She asks.

"Nah. I bought thousands of dollars' worth of equipment and left it at home. What do you think?" Jim asks sarcastically.

"I think that if you're going to be a dick, you should at least put a condom on your head." Cortana jokes back. Jim and Cortana both laugh.

"Hey Jim?" Michael interrupts. "Nice to know that you and Cortana are having a good time, but seriously, where are we going?" Michael asks.

"Oh, right. Cortana, can I get a waypoint?" Jim puts on the HUD glasses and Cortana gives him a waypoint at the next intersection. "Alright Michael, you want to turn left on the intersection after this one." Jim explains. "It should take us about ten minutes to get there."

"Where exactly is 'there'?" Alexei questions.

Jim looks at Alexei and grins. "The Ark."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the future, an ODST Soldier runs through several hallways on the F.T.G. Copernicus on his way to the bridge. He runs into the bridge and stops short of the captain's chair. "Captain Del Rio, sir."

Del Rio turns to the soldier with a curious look. "What is it son?"

"The UNSC has taken your Villa on Earth." He informs. "They know about the attack on the Spartan."

"Of course they do." Del Rio smirks. "Where is the Spartan now?"

"He is onboard the UNSC Infinity en route to Requiem sir." The Soldier tells him.

"Did our agents make it aboard?" Del Rio asks.

"Yes sir."

"Perfect. Set a course for Requiem." Del Rio orders. His bridge staff nods and punches the Copernicus into slip space. "The UNSC wanted war? Well now they have it." Del Rio will have his revenge on the Spartan and the UNSC, even if it is the last thing he'll do.

* * *

**Zounds! Del Rio's plans are being set in motion! What could he be planning?!**

**I actually don't know, I make this up as I go.**

**Just kidding, I do have a pretty good idea.**

**Anyway, I'm sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up, but as I've said before I've been very busy for the past month. I actually had to re-read my own story to remember what happened!**

**And please do check out my YouTube channel! I'm thinking of making a YouTube network where many people can join me on my quest for internet domination! So if you want to collab with me on YouTube, tell me your idea and I'll see about what we can do!**

**Anywho, thank you for reading this chapter of Halo 4: A Rip in Time and I hope you're looking forward to the rest!**

**Good Night Children!**


	16. Chapter 15: The War Games (Part 2)

_**[EDIT: Sorry guys, but I'm not able to finish the next chapter for July. However, I'll be combining the July chapter with the August chapter and upload that sometime in... well... August. I've just been so busy with this "Love of Rose" film and work, so I haven't had much time to myself. I haven't even been able to record a single session for my walkthroughs. (Luckily, I already have more then half of Skyward Sword recorded, so I have plenty to upload before I run out) As for the Halo Mania recordings, I've still not chosen my entrants, so you do have time to submit a request. Again, I apologize for keeping you guys waiting, but I promise you I will not stop until this story is finished.] -SuperGenX **_

* * *

**WHAT'S GOOD PEPS?! Welcome to the next exciting chapter of Halo 4: A Rip in Time.**

**I appreciate the support that I've been getting, and I'm glad that I can continue on giving you all your guilty pleasure!**

**Just FYI, I'm planning on doing walkthroughs of all the Halo games, and I'm opening up a slot for two of YOU to join me and one other friend in the Halo Reach Campaign to kick off the walkthroughs of the series!**

**Message me on Xbox LIVE in order to enter for a chance to play. I will only be selecting two of you, however I may select another to join us should something happen. The date of the recording is not yet set, and could change based on player's availability.**

**I will also eventually be doing a walkthrough of Halo 4, but I don't have the party details of that yet.**

**ALRIGHT. Now that I'm done with my promoting phase, I shall let you go to read Chapter 15 of Halo 4: A Rip in Time!**

* * *

An explosion shakes the battlefield as a Scorpion tank unleashes it's payload on the entrance to the cave system. The Spartan IV driver of the tank, Chris, turns on his coms to the rest of his adversaries. "This is Spartan W23 to all available Spartans! I have the Chief pinned in a cave system with my tank!"

Several Spartans switch on their coms to reply, and the gunshots in the distance cease.

"Seriously?" One female Spartan asks.

"Alright guys, if we're going to do this, we have to work together!" Says a French male.

"Yeah, let's have a truce for now alright?"

"Hold on, I'll be right there!" Another guy responds.

The Chief silently listens in on their coms, hidden in the shadows of the cave. "_Shit."_ He thinks to himself. Without some sort of heavy artillery, the Chief's chances of taking out that tank become blindingly slim.

"Chief." A female voice echoes throughout the cave system. The Chief looks around in confusion.

"Ollie ollie oxin free." Echoes the female voice. Chief climbs down from his hiding spot, immediately aware of who speaks. There is only a hand full of people in the entire galaxy that would bother to get the Chief's attention with that phrase, and most of them are dead.

The Chief switches off his coms and activates his outer speakers. "Kelly? Where are you?" The Chief asks. Kelly melts out of the darkness and into the dim light. She sticks out her pointer finger and thumb to make an "L" shape and holds it up to her visor sideways. It's a Spartan II's way of saying that their smiling. The Chief returns the gesture.

"Surprised to see me?" Kelly asks.

"No. I knew you would show up sooner or later." The Chief puts his battle rifle on his back while he takes the shotgun out. "Actually, I'm glad you're here. Want to show these rookies how it's done?"

Kelly shows the Chief that she has a rocket launcher and Assault rifle. "Oh, hell yes."

Meanwhile, outside the cave, the mob of Spartan IV's arrived and group together in front of the tank. Chris opens the hatch and looks at them all. "Alright guys, who here has Promethean vision?"

Two Spartans raise their hands. "Alright good. I want one of you in the front, and the other in the back. You will make sure that the Chief doesn't surprise you guys with an-"

"Ambush!" One of the Spartans yell as Kelly fires a rocket at the tank. It impacts with deadly precision and the entire tank is disabled. Chris is flung out of the tank and into a nearby river while three other Spartans that were right next to the tank are KO'd from the blast. The rest of the Spartans quickly get into cover and start shooting at the cave.

"What the hell, man?! I thought there was only one of him!" One Spartan yells. Another rocket slams into the boulder that two of the Spartans are hiding behind, but lucky for them the boulder takes the hit.

"Come on guys! We can take them!" One red Spartan motivates. The other Spartans cheer at his confidence just as red feels something tap him on the back of his helmet. He looks back and sees Chief's shotgun in his face.

"Boo." Chief says just before he blasts the Spartan in the face with stun rounds. The other Spartans start shooting at Chief, and the Chief's shields lower to 43%. He dashes to the cover of the disabled tank just as Kelly lets another rocket fly. The two Spartans that Kelly shot at jump out of the way just in time to avoid the explosion.

"Shoot them!" The Engineer Spartan shouts to his last two comrades. The three Spartans let their bullets fly in Kelly's direction. Several rounds hit her and her shields drop to 32% before she can get into cover.

"John, cover fire!" Kelly requests. The Chief stands up from his cover and fires at the trio of Spartans with his battle rifle.

The Engineer's shields lower by 20% and he looks over to see the Chief shooting at them from behind the tank. "Hey, private! Shoot at the Chief!"

The blue warrior Spartan nods and starts shooting in Chief's direction while the other two Spartans keep shooting at Kelly. The Chief ducks back down into his cover and curse under his breath.  
_"These last three guys are actually pretty good."_ Chief thinks. He pulls out a gel grenade, cooks it, and throws it at the trio of Spartans. Kelly comes out of her cover and blasts the grenade with a shot from here Assault Rifle just as the grenade flies past them. The blast sends all three of them flying backwards and they are covered in stun gel.

Kelly smiles behind her visor. She missed this. The rush of adrenalin pumping through her veins as she fights on the front lines with her fellow Spartans. With Chief. Ever since she can remember, she's always been jealous of the Chief's almost impossible amounts of luck. No matter what challenge was put in front of him; he would always find a way to overcome it.

"Kelly." Chief shouts on his outer speakers. Kelly smirks, knowing exactly what the Chief means. They're not done yet.

"Last man standing, right?" Kelly asks. The Chief nods and Kelly returns the nod. They both stand up and walk towards each other. Kelly drops her weapons on the ground, and the Chief does the same. Almost in unison, Kelly and the Chief raise their shields to the max and start sprinting at each other.

They both try to punch each other at the same time, and their fists collide. The impact causes their shields to flash and a loud _boom_ echoes throughout the battle field. Kelly recovers first and sends a barrage of blindingly fast punches at the Chief.

The Chief blocks most of them, each blow to his shields causing another loud _bang_. The Chief grabs one of her punches and he pulls her in close to elbow her in the helmet. The impact sends her staggering back, giving the Chief the window he needs to pick her up and throw her into the cave wall.

Kelly smashes into the rock wall with so much force that the wall directly behind her crumbles and the surrounding rock is cracked. Kelly climbs out of the wall and pops her neck. "Alright, not bad." She admits. "But if you think I've been sitting around eating bonbons for the past two years, you're sadly mistaken!"

Kelly dashes at the Chief and tackles him to the ground. The Chief's head hits the ground with bone crushing force and dazes him momentarily. Kelly flips over the Chief and grabs him by the shoulders. She twists her body and hurls the Chief forwards into the disabled tank. The Chief slams into the tank and destroys the right track belt.

The Chief looks up and sees Kelly in mid-air heading right towards him. He rolls out of the way and Kelly's fist smashes through the tank. "Shit!" She pulls her arm out of the tank, but the Chief tackles her to the ground. Kelly punches the Chief in the visor and his shields shatter.

She grabs the Chief and rolls over so that she's on top and tries to punch him. The Chief grabs her punch and head-butts her in the helmet, which shatters her shields. Kelly and the Chief keep rolling over each other, fighting for the top position.

The Chief finally gets the top position and is able to pin Kelly's hands to the ground. Kelly struggles to roll over, but the Chief has her secured. The Chief is about to head-butt her again when the bell sounds to signal the end of the match. They stay like this for a while, starring at each other's visors.

"So… that was fun." Kelly says, out of breath.

"Yeah. We should do it again sometime." Chief agrees.

"Definitely". Kelly replies.

For some reason the Chief feels a tingling sensation in the back of his head. He reaches up to feel the back of his helmet, but doesn't feel anything there. Without warning, the feeling goes from a small tingle to a concussing pain. He grunts in pain and falls off of Kelly, holding his head.

"John? John what's wrong?" Kelly asks, concerned.

"Victor zero five dash three dash Sierra zero one one seven." A voice he can't seem to place echoes in his head.

"Sleep well?" "Can we be any louder?" Now there is more than one voice, but they sound similar.

"Name's Sargent Avery Johnson, at your service." "Ah Master Chief. I am Captain Jacob Keys."

"_Johnson… Keys?" _The Chief thinks.

"Only you can stop what HE has set in motion." "Come, we must go. The prophet will soon make his move."

"_Ugh… what the hell?"_ Dozens of voices echo in the Chief's mind, as if all are fighting to be heard. But then, all is silent except for one voice.

"Chief."

The Chief shutters. _"That voice…"_

"Chief you have to focus."

"_No. It can't be." _The Chief knows that voice all too well. It's the voice he's been longing and scared to hear again.

"Help me, John." Cortana's voice echoes in his mind. The Chief opens his eyes to find Kelly and the other Spartan IV's crowded around him. The War Games battlefield has been changed back to its standard white room and hologram projectors. Kelly has her helmet off, and the look on her face is not one the Chief has seen on her before.

But he's seen the look of fear on enough civilians and normal people to recognize it anywhere.

"Chief, are you all right?" Kelly asks. "Here, let me help." Kelly tries to help the Chief lean up, but the Chief shrugs her off.

"I'm fine." The Chief insists. He picks himself up off his feet and looks around.

"Chief… what happened?" Kelly asks. "You blacked out for about two minutes."

"I don't know." The Chief admits. "It felt like someone smashed me in the head with a gravity hammer."

"Well… are you fine now?" Kelly wonders.

"Yeah. I'm good. Thanks." Chief replies. "I just… need some time to myself." The Chief quickly walks out of the War Games room and heads for the room he was given by Lasky. Once he gets there, he locks himself in the room, sits down on the floor, and removes his helmet. He is sweating profusely and is short of breath, something that doesn't happen very often for him.

He takes a picture that was taped to the inside of the helmet out and looks at it. The picture is of Cortana when she and the Chief first met. The Chief and Cortana were both given a test: get across the obstacle course within the time limit without dying. If Cortana wasn't there to help, the Chief would have died for sure. She saved his life that day.

Serena appears on a holographic console on the other side of the Chief's room. "Master Chief… a word?"

"What do you want?" The Chief asks coldly. Serena hesitates, unsure of herself.

"I… I know I am not Cortana." Serena starts. The Chief tightens his hand into a fist. "I know that you must hate me for what I am."

The Chief sighs and releases his fist. "I don't hate you."

"Alright, then you strongly dislike me." Serena corrects. The Chief looks at her with a raised eyebrow. "You cannot lie to me Master Chief. I have protocols in place to detect lies. However, I do admire your kindness in trying to spare my feelings."

"Why did you come here?" The Chief wants to get to the bottom line.

Serena sighs, or at least replicates one. "I am not Cortana, but I have some of her memories. Her feelings."

"What are you getting at?" The Chief asks.

Serena pauses for a moment, staring at the Chief. "She… she cared very deeply for you." These words cut into the Chief like a knife. "She thought the world of you Chief."

"Stop." The Chief says very softly.

"Some of her most cherished memories were of the two of you." Serena continues.

"That's enough." The Chief requests.

"She… for lack of better words… loved you."

"I said stop!" The Chief shouts, his chest in utter pain. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, Master Chief, Cortana wanted to admit her feelings to you so badly, but she could never find the right moment." Serena starts. "And once she started feeling the effects of rampancy while you were in cryosleep, her rampant self wanted to thaw you out while draining the air from your suit."

The Chief pauses. "What?"

"Her rampant self wanted to kill you Chief. But her feelings for you were so strong that she resisted the bloodlust. She resisted it for months because she cared about you." Serena sighs. "She truly did love you Master Chief."

The Chief and Serena stay silent for a moment while the Chief stares at the picture. After a long awkward silence, Lasky's voice comes on over the coms. "Attention crew, we will be arriving at Requiem in thirty minutes. I am bringing the ship up to combat alert delta, so get to your stations!"

"I guess we better get to work then?" Serena asks. Master Chief puts the picture of Cortana back into his helmet and puts it on.

"I guess so."

* * *

**So the reason it took me so long to write this is because there were multiple directions I wanted to take this chapter. If I tell you any of my ideas, I may spoil something in future chapters so I'll hold off from doing that.**

**So tell me what you think about this chapter. I'm a but iffy on it myself, and if you guys don't like this direction, I'll update it later to suit your liking.**

**One more thing! I'm really excited to be recording my Halo-Mania videos for youtube, so I would appreciate it if some of you would like to join me and a friend in Halo Reach! Remember, I can only select two of you!**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter of Halo 4: A Rip in Time, and I hope you're looking forward to the next!**

**GOOOOOOOoooooOOOOOD Night Children!**


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